Girls volleyball: Batavia blows by South Elgin

Batavia had a clear mission in its Upstate Eight crossover matchup with visiting South Elgin Thursday night.

Returning all-conference middle Libby Vedrine is a key in the Storm attack, and Batavia made it a point to not let her get going.

"We served assertively," Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said. "We did take their middle attack out of the game. We had to do that to beat them. Their middle attack is great."

Setter Jenna Garrett served 2 aces in the Bulldogs' 25-18, 25-17 win, and she also directed the Bulldogs' attack with 20 assists.

It was an all-around solid performance for Batavia (10-8), who played well in the back row, at the net and with its swings.

"We were able to pick up a lot of balls and keep us in system," Garrett said. "It wasn't like we were running around crazy for the ball.

"We played more consistent. Against this team that has a strong offense we were able to keep them out of system more and defend our side more."

South Elgin (6-6) took one of its few leads early in the first set, up 9-5 before a string of hitting errors allowed Batavia to catch up.

The Storm hit wide to give Batavia the lead at 12-11, and Batavia freshman Cordelia Smith followed with a kill.

The Storm pulled even at 15-15 when Hayley Fisher put a ball down, but the Bulldogs ended the set on a 10-3 run that included a back set from Garrett to Melissa Kozak for the 24th point, and Kozak and Hannah Yaconis stuffing the Storm at the net to seal the set.

"It was an off-night for us," South Elgin coach Joni Plach said. "We didn't play well. The first game Batavia played well but it was our errors that won them the game."

Batavia had control throughout the second set. Garrett set Maddy Boyer for a 4-3 lead, and the Bulldogs didn't trail again.

Garrett and Yaconis ran a slide play successfully three times, the final one putting Batavia up 20-13.

"That's one of our favorite plays," Garrett said. "We like to spread it out to the pins. Hannah is a great hitter, she can do anything with any ball I give her. She's one of my favorite players to go to. Toward the end the play was working really well and we just kept running it."

Smith drilled a winner down the line to take Batavia to match point, and Yaconis ended the match by taking a free ball and slamming it back.

"I thought we controlled the match a little better," Trippi-Payne said. "It's very important we play as a team and play like we know we can.

"We missed too many serves in my opinion but the serves we made were dead on and got them out of system. Because in system they are tough. Every time they weren't setting the middle I was happy."

Boyer (9 kills), Kozak (2 blocks), Sam Juarez (10 digs), Smith (6 digs, 3 kills, 2 aces) and Yaconis (8 kills) led Batavia.

Plach complemented Batavia's float serves. She said her junior outside Fisher played one of her best matches with 9 kills. Vedrine added 3 kills, and Casie Swanson had 8 assists.

The Storm will play in the Prospect tournament this weekend.

"They are a fast-paced team," Plach said of Batavia. "We couldn't run our middles. That is usually what wins us the games."