Girls volleyball: Scouting Fox Valley postseason
With a pair of Division I outside hitters pounding away and experience back all over the court, Geneva came into the year with sky-high expectations, a team capable of being the best in school history and making its longest postseason run.
The Vikings lived up to the hype in the regular season, losing only once while breezing through the Upstate Eight Conference River schedule and winning several talented-filled tournaments.
Now comes the postseason, Geneva hoping to erase the disappointment of last year's loss in the regional finals to Naperville North by becoming the first Viking team to reach state.
Only Geneva's 2013 team has ever won a sectional, back when seniors Grace Loberg and Ally Barrett - headed to Wisconsin and Connecticut, respectively - were freshmen.
Having multiple players who can put the ball down has been a key to Geneva's success.
"We have a lot of versatility and a lot of options," Vikings coach Annie Seitelman said. "If teams focus in on Grace we have a lot of other options ... you can tell from our attacking that we're able to share the wealth a little bit."
The Vikings, 27-1 heading into this weekend's tournament at Lyons Township, start play at the St. Charles North regional, and if they advance they get to come home and host a sectional where the other teams favored to win regionals are No. 2 seed Wheaton North, No. 3 St. Francis and No. 4 St. Charles East.
The Spartans, who added a Class 4A state title last fall on top of back-to-back Class 3A crowns the previous two years, dropped a three-set battle on Tuesday against a Geneva team that has only lost five sets all year. The two powers may meet again.
"They're a great team, but I think we can beat them," St. Francis senior Alexia Byrnes-Hosey said. "Hopefully, we can go to state again this year. We just have to keep getting after it in the gym."
The Saints also lost a regular season matchup to Geneva. Coach Jennie Kull's team this year is led by her daughter, senior setter Morgan Kull.
"She's taken the game to a different level and I couldn't be more proud," Jennie Kull said. "She has been watching this a long time and she realizes this is her last high school season. She just decided she's going to go after it."
St. Charles North (23-11) is the ninth seed in the sectional and will need to beat No. 8 Waubonsie Valley to get a chance at the Vikings in the regional championship. West Aurora is the 11th seed and hosts a regional, opening against No. 21 Bartlett with the winner facing No. 5 Neuqua Valley.
Batavia is the 14th seed and plays No. 19 Plainfield East on Monday.
Geneva isn't the only area team to earn a Class 4A No. 1 seed. Huntley also is the top seed and hosts its own sectional, where the Red Raiders are followed by No. 2 Crystal Lake Central, Prairie Ridge, Cary-Grove, DeKalb, Belvidere North, Rockton Hononegah and McHenry.
The Red Raiders are 25-6 and just clinched their first Fox Valley Conference title Thursday.
"That is a great seed to have," Huntley coach Karen Naymola said. "But it really doesn't matter what seed you are. You are still going to face some of these top teams that we are going to have to face and get past. Come postseason it's a whole new season and everything we did in conference we have to improve on because when the postseason comes around, conference really didn't mean anything if you don't go as far as you want in the postseason."
Other area teams in the sectional field are No. 9 Dundee-Crown, No. 11 Crystal Lake South, No. 12 South Elgin, No. 13 Hampshire, No. 14 Larkin, No. 17 Jacobs and No. 20 Streamwood.
In Class 3A, Kaneland (30-4) and Rosary both enter the postseason with high seeds. The Knights are No. 1 in their sub-sectional of the Freeport sectional and will try to win a regional championship at Burlington Central, where the host Rockets are the No. 4 seed and could meet Kaneland in the title game.
Whoever wins the regional will face the likes of LaSalle-Peru, Sterling and Genoa-Kingston at the sectional.
The Royals stay close to home for their regional, up the road at Aurora Central Catholic. Only Timothy Christian is seeded ahead of Rosary at the Montini sectional. The Royals could face a rematch with No. 3 Fenwick in the sectional semifinals; Fenwick defeated Rosary 25-15, 25-13 in last year's sectional championship match at Glenbard South.
Three area teams are in the Class 2A sectional hosted by Byron, and all three will start play in a regional held at Aurora Christian. Harvest Christian is the No. 2 seed and will play the winner of No. 7 St. Edward vs. No. 8 Somonauk. Aurora Christian is the third seed and opens with No. 6 Lisle.
Westminster Christian hosts a Class 1A sectional. The Warriors are the seventh seed and start in the Faith Lutheran regional.