Girls volleyball: Geneva overcomes slow start, beats Batavia
Leading Batavia 24-23 in the deciding third set Thursday night, Geneva senior Danielle Thompson took one aggressive swing after another trying to end the match.
Unfortunately for her, the Bulldogs were up to the task, digging each blast Thompson sent their way.
Thompson got the last word however, alertly going up for a block when Batavia tried to end the long rally with a quick tip. Thompson stuffed the ball right back, and this time the Bulldogs couldn't keep it from hitting the floor.
That point ended a come-from-behind win for the Vikings, 24-26, 25-10, 25-23.
"It was driving me crazy," Thompson said of Batavia's digs on match point, most of them by libero Sam Juarez. "It's a long rally so you have to keep playing hard. I had a feeling it (the quick tip) was coming."
It was Geneva's second 3-set win in as many nights after the Vikings topped DeKalb 27-25 in the deciding third set Wednesday.
"I told them my blood pressure can't handle it," Geneva coach Annie Seitelman said. "I think their libero did a fantastic job. That volley went back and forth quite a few times and fortunately it ended in our favor."
Batavia (14-11, 2-2) got off to a good start, outscoring Geneva (11-9, 3-1) 5-1 to erase a 23-21 deficit and win the first set. Back-to-back kills by Melissa Kozak tied the score at 23.
Thompson saved one set point with a kill, but on Batavia's second chance a bad Geneva pass gave the Bulldogs the win.
"I was so excited about set one," Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said. "Because we didn't play well, Geneva didn't play well, we just grinded through that game. Sometimes you aren't going to be playing your best and you have to grind through it. We grinded through set one. I thought that was great."
Freshman Anna Loberg helped Geneva break open the second set. Leading 6-4, Loberg served 9 straight - 4 of them aces - and the Vikings rolled from there.
Geneva led most of the third set. An ace by Annie Mooney made it 17-14 before a 5-1 Batavia run put the Bulldogs up 19-18 and set up an exciting end with the score after every point either ending in a tie or a lead change.
Molly Lambillotte's ace put Geneva ahead 20-19; a block by Hannah Yaconis quickly tied the score. Batavia regained a 23-22 lead only to miss a serve and then hit long to put Geneva up 24-23 and set up Thompson's match-winning block.
Lambillotte, who led both teams with 13 kills and 20 digs, kept Geneva in that rally with a sprawling dig in the back row. Seitelman liked the way her team stayed aggressive on the big points.
"You can't play not to lose," Seitelman said. "You have to play to win. You have to stay aggressive. You want to take that big swing or make the big block."
Jenna Garrett (12 digs, 29 assists), Maddy Boyer (11 digs, 10 kills), Alexis Whelpley (3 blocks), Yaconis (8 kills), Cordelia Smith (6 kills), Kozak (5 kills) and Juarez (16 digs, 2 aces) led Batavia.
Thompson finished with 12 kills, setters Piper Drazek (18 assists) and Loberg (12 assists) combined for 30 assists, and Payton Bellano had 16 digs for Geneva.
"We had a lot of our own errors the first set," said the Ferris State-bound Thompson. "I think that was the issue. We pulled it together and kept our energy up."