Combo clicks for Geneva

When Geneva's serving is on, it can be one tough team to beat. When Lauren Wicinski and serving are both on, the Vikings are dangerous.

Both Wicinski (match-high 15 kills) and serving (team-high 7 aces) were on against Glenbard North, as those two things helped the No. 2 seed Vikings top the No. 15 Panthers 25-16, 25-16 in the Class 4A regional semifinal at Geneva Thursday.

"She's something special," Geneva coach KC Johnsen said of the junior outside hitter. "She's got that ability to see the floor."

"We've been working really hard on serving," Wicinski added. "We knew coming in here we had to serve well."

With the win, the Vikings (29-7) will play No. 10 Bartlett for the regional title at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Geneva's biggest run in Game 1 arrived toward the end when it scored 6 consecutive points behind Wicinski's serving for a 23-12 lead. After three straight Glenbard North points, the game was capped on a kill from Taylor Whitley.

In the second game, Glenbard North fought through 4 early ties. It broke through a 6-6 knot and built a 13-8 lead.

Geneva, however, took the momentum away right after that by scoring 7 of 8 points. A Cara Watkins kill tied the game at 15, but that was as close as the Panthers could get.

After that, Geneva went on an 8-point tear behind Megan Odenthal's serving, Glenbard North's errors and more kills from Wicinski. Another Watkins kill ended the run, only to have the match put away on back-to-back kills from Wicinski and Whitley.

Kelsey Augustine and Whitley finished with 7 kills each. Odenthal recorded 34 assists and 6 digs and Katie Sommer added 3 kills.

Nicolette Rini led Glenbard North with 5 kills, Stephanie Mahan added 3 kills and Megan Carbon and Lizzie Grandaw each had 2 kills and 4 digs.

To get to the regional semifinal, Glenbard North topped Proviso East, 25-4, 25-14 in the first of three matches at Geneva. The Panthers finished the season 9-20.

"I think we've improved," Glenbard North coach Dedra DeBenedetti said. "The girls worked hard and were dedicated. They always had the drive to push themselves to improve."