Girls volleyball: Waubonsie Valley downs Batavia

Fighting off a valiant comeback attempt from Batavia, Waubonsie Valley's girls volleyball team escaped with a 25-23, 27-25 nonconference victory, spoiling the Bulldogs' home opener Tuesday night.

Junior outside hitter Cassie Chinn recorded a team-high 10 kills while senior teammate Gisela Bode added 6 kills and 5 digs and sophomore setter Melissa Walden had 5 kills, 3 aces and 18 assists as the Warriors improved to 5-2 on the young season.

"We really look to our sophomore setter, Melissa (Walden), to deliver and then our senior outside, Gisela (Bode)," said Warriors coach Kari Galen. "She plays all the way around for us. This is her third year on varsity. We're really looking for her to take that initiative and she has."

Bode, who will play at Lewis next season, had 6 kills and a match-clinching block during a volatile second set as the Warriors allowed a 19-11 lead to evaporate before they sealed the decision in extra time.

"It was a lot of things," said Bode when asked how her team lost its sizable lead in the second set. "I think it was mainly because our passing was too tight. We couldn't give our setter options to set but we pulled through toward the end. It was all mental."

"This is something we have to work on in practice," said Galen. "When we get comfortable, that's when teams take advantage. Somebody on the court has to take the initiative, 'I'm putting the ball down right now.'"

Batavia (4-3) received a match-high 13 kill performance from junior outside hitter Sam Juarez while senior Hannah Yaconis added 6 kills and junior Becca Robinson had a team-high 12 digs. Junior setter Jenna Garrett finished with 22 assists and 8 digs.

"I'm really proud of these kids - we worked really hard," said Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne. "This is a veteran Waubonsie Valley team that is basically the same team as last season. We only return four players from last year's team and two are playing different positions from last year. We worked on a game plan yesterday and they totally followed it today. We were right there with them."

Batavia trailed 12-5, 17-8 and 19-11 in the second set before rattling off 8 consecutive points to tie it at 19-19.

The surge included pinpoint serving from senior Allie Zink and a pair of kills from Juarez.

"Allie (Zink) had a big service run," said Trippi-Payne, now in her 31st year at the helm. "Our team energy, including my entire bench - we weren't going to give up. We were going to keep fighting. That's something this team does - they fight hard."

The Warriors also received key contributions from senior libero Michelle Lee (15 digs), UC-Santa Barbara-bound Grace Kloss (4 digs) and Greer Griffin (4 kills).

"We have an Army's worth of weapons and we're ready to use them," said Bode. "We just have to use them at the right time."