Healthy Geneva handles St. Charles East
Teams who played Geneva the first few weeks of the season caught quite a break with the Vikings' Wisconsin-bound junior Grace Loberg either in street clothes or playing at less than 100 percent after a bout with mono.
St. Charles East had no such luck Tuesday, and things took a turn for the worse for the Saints Sunday when their top hitter Kyla Augustine sprained her ankle playing soccer which left her sidelined for the key Upstate Eight Conference River Division matchup.
The result was what Viking fans have been waiting for, Loberg slamming kills while setter Mikayla Lanasa also found Ally Barrett, Kyley Thompson, Ally Mullen and Julia Brown in a convincing 25-16, 25-13 victory.
Geneva (16-2, 3-1) finished second at the Glenbard West Invitational over the weekend as Loberg returned to action. On Tuesday she led the Vikings with 9 kills and added 6 digs.
"It is a work in progress," Geneva coach Annie Seitelman said. "We had an opportunity to try out a couple different rotations (at Glenbard West). The biggest thing was our mentality tonight is we went in on the offensive and being the aggressor which really played into our favor."
Loberg and Augustine, as well as many other players in the match, know each other well from club volleyball. Two weeks ago St. Charles North defeated Geneva with Loberg playing just part of the second set, and now the Vikings faced the Saints without Augustine as the injury bug continues to strike.
"It was a bummer that Kyla was hurt because it would have made it a different game," Loberg said. "I feel 100 percent right now and have for the last couple days. I'm just taking a lot of vitamins to keep my energy up."
St. Charles East (12-4, 2-1) fell behind early 5-1 as Loberg came out with a kill, Payton Bellano served an ace and Barrett drilled a kill from the back row.
The Saints got as close as 12-10 on Amanda Davidson's ace before the Vikings surged again. Mullen's kill put Geneva up 17-12 and forced Saints coach Jennie Kull into her first timeout.
A perfectly executed slide from Brown made it 23-16 Geneva, and moments later Barrett ended the opening set with an ace.
The Saints led briefly 2-1 early in the second set; the Vikings scored 15 of the next 18 points during a run that included long service runs for Bellano and Mullen, and 4 kills by Loberg - who is just glad to be back in action.
"It was not fun," Loberg said. "I wanted to be out there so much. Every practice, every game it just killed me. As soon as I started feeling better I started training as hard as I could again."
Loberg and Mullen combined at the net for 2 blocks as Geneva moved closer to match point, which Barrett delivered on a cross-court kill on a set from Lanasa.
Barrett added 6 kills and 6 digs, Thompson 4 kills, and Mullen and Brown 3 kills and 2 blocks. Lanasa 24 set assists, and Bellano had 10 digs, 2 aces.
The Saints brought up sophomore Hannah Spicer from the JV team and she contributed 3 kills.
"She did a good job," Kull said. "That's a hard place to come into. It (missing Augustine) was a huge change. We had one day to prepare.
"We were off tonight. There's no excuses. I think Geneva played very well. They are reloaded. They are ready to go. They were consistent. We just made errors."