Girls volleyball: Geneva shakes off slow start, beats Libertyville
Fresh off the first loss of its season Saturday to Benet, the Geneva girls volleyball team is using that setback to its advantage.
In a matchup of Top 20 teams Thursday night, No. 1 Geneva rallied for a nonconference win over No. 15 Libertyville, 22-25, 25-13, 25-16 in Geneva.
"It definitely motivated us to not lose again," senior outside Ally Barrett said of losing to the Redwings in the championship match of the Mizuno Cup. "We have been in the gym working hard."
Vikings coach Annie Seitelman subscribes to the theory that a defeat can be a good thing.
"I'd rather the loss be now than later," Seitelman said. "I feel like with the loss there's a little of that pressure off. For a team to go the entire season undefeated, it's not too common. I think it was good, almost a reality check, and keeping that focus of one match at a time."
Libertyville (19-10) got off to a strong start, looking to give Geneva (26-1) a second setback.
The first set was the most competitive of the three, with Barrett's ace tying the score for the final time at 14-14. The Wildcats, who trailed early 8-3 before a 10-2 run, were able to dig several blasts - led by Morgan O'Brien and Morgan DeGregor - to stay in points long enough for Geneva to make mistakes.
DeGregor served an ace for a 21-17 lead, and the Wildcats answered Barrett's kill down the line that brought Geneva within 24-22 by getting a net violation call on the next point to close out the set.
"We started out rough," Barrett said. "I guess we weren't into it mentally yet. We had to wake up.
"I knew I had to step up after we all had a rough first set."
Barrett and Grace Loberg both had 3 kills in the second set and Taylor Brown added a pair for the Vikings, who led comfortably throughout.
Barrett saved her best for last with 7 kills in the third set including the first 2 points as Geneva never trailed. A block by Libertyville's Haley Stevenson brought the Wildcats within 20-16 before Geneva scored the final 5 points including a block by Julia Brown, a kill from the back row by Loberg and a pair of Libertyville hitting errors.
"We came out here because we want to play one of the best teams there is," Libertyville coach Greg Loika said. "I think when we landed the first few punches we put the pressure on them and they were hitting the ball long and we were doing a great job with our block and our defense and won long rallies in that first set. I thought that was the difference. In sets two and three we started to make our own errors and they picked up their game. Real happy to come out and get that first set."
Anna Lillydahl (5 kills, 12 assists), Stevenson (5 kills), O'Brien (18 digs, 3 assists) and DeGregor (15 digs) paced the Wildcats, who were playing without outside Anna Valente.
Mikayla Lanasa finished with 25 assists and 10 digs for the Vikings. Barrett (13 kills, 8 digs) and Loberg (10 kills, 14 digs) combined for 23 kills and 22 digs.
"That team in the first set was not our normal girls," Seitelman said. "You have seen us play enough to know that's not us. We were off in multiple facets. It was nice to see us rebound toward the end of that set and build some momentum to take us into the second set and we were able to get back into our groove from there."