Geneva takes WSC showdown vs. Batavia

The Geneva girls volleyball team is near-perfect - at least record-wise.

The Vikings are an undefeated 7-0 in the first round of Western Sun Conference play after they topped rival Batavia 25-16, 25-9 Tuesday in Geneva.

With the win, the Vikings are 17-1 overall. No conference opponent has taken Geneva to three games yet.

"We are really happy to get through the first round of conference," Geneva coach KC Johnsen said. "The conference is tough this year. We get started right away Thursday against Glenbard South."

In Game 1, Geneva didn't need any big run or rally to pull ahead of the Bulldogs (11-7, 5-2). It scored its points two or three at a time and ended the same way it started - on a kill from Lauren Wicinski.

In the second game, Geneva jumped out by scoring the first 6 points of the game behind Taylor Whitley's serving (including a pair of aces), Batavia errors and kills from Kelsey Augustine. The Bulldogs never recovered and struggled with the Vikings and their serving the rest of the game.

"Our energy was high and we had the momentum," Augustine said. "(Batavia) played well, but intensity was so high, we just sort of shut them down."

Later in the game, Geneva went on a 5-point run for a 22-6 lead, thanks to more Augustine kills, Batavia errors and Maddy Kolquist's serving. The match ended on a Katie Sommer kill.

"We did a good job of staying focused and kept the momentum rolling from the first game," Johnsen said. "They battled."

Geneva finished with 11 total aces, and Batavia did not record any digs in the second game.

"They served us off the court," Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said. "We did not pass well... Geneva is a very good serving team and lately, we haven't been passing as well as we should be. We've gotten away with it, but you can't get away with it against a team like this, when we can't run our full offense. Give them credit, they served us tough. We didn't do that."

Geneva was led by Augustine (8 kills, 3 blocks), Grace Burns (5 digs), Sommer (6 kills, 2 blocks), Wicinski (7 kills, 3 digs) and Megan Odenthal (20 assists).

"We work hard on our serving," Johnsen said. "I thought we played a well-rounded match. We served well, we serve-received well, our hitters hit well and we put up a pretty good block up against them."

Batavia was led by Laura Doolin (2 kills, 2 digs), Taylor Koncelik (2 digs, 1 ace, 3 kills), Melissa Norville (2 kills) and Kelly Coleman (2 digs, 1 ace).

"(Geneva) outplayed us in all areas of the game," Trippi-Payne said.