Geneva battles by Batavia's block
A 31-year resident of Batavia whose daughter played for the Bulldogs, Geneva girls volleyball coach KC Johnsen might have been the least surprised person in the gym Tuesday at how close the match was between the 16-1 Vikings and 9-8 Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs came out blocking Geneva's big hitters in Game 1 before the Vikings turned up the power late in both games for a 25-20, 25-21 victory to finish the first half of Western Sun Conference play with a perfect 7-0 record.
"We kind of expected them to put up a good block," Johnsen said. "You expect them to play good defense and block and be fundamentally sound. In this gym you expect them to battle. I was part of that Batavia crowd cheering a few years myself. We have a ton of respect for this program."
Geneva (17-1, 7-0), the fourth-ranked team in the Daily Herald Top 20, was tied at 20-20 in both games but showed its experience in each.
Batavia's strong block kept the first game close throughout. There were 14 ties and seven lead changes.
Mary Nilles had two early block kills and Kristen Koncelik and Kelsey VandenBorn one each to help Batavia take its final lead 20-19.
"We knew exactly what they were going to run and we knew exactly what we were going to commit the block to," Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said. "Any time some of those big kids tip it, I'm really happy to see that."
Geneva kept swinging, with 7 kills by Lauren Wicinski, 6 from Kelsey Augustine and 2 by Katie Sommer giving the Vikings 15 in Game 1 to Batavia's 6.
"We knew we had to keep fighting," Wicinski said. "Blocks happen, everyone gets blocked."
Senior Andie Fowler served the final five points of the first game, two on aces and two on Batavia net violations. The Vikings' hustle forced one of those violations after sprawling saves by Sommer and Brooke Morphis kept a point alive along enough for a Bulldog (9-9, 4-3) mistake.
"We all get really pumped up toward the end of our games and we try our hardest to push through," Fowler said. "We had to fight really hard toward the end."
It was a similar story in Game 2. Tied at 20, four service points from Brooke Binette got the Vikings to match point, which Lauren Wicinski capped with her 17th kill, out of bounds off Batavia's block. Wicinski put away Geneva's last four points of the match with her rocket hits.
Morphis finished with 9 digs and 24 assists, Augustine 11 digs and 8 kills and Grace Burns 9 digs for Geneva, while Nilles and VandenBorn both had 3 block kills for Batavia, Stephanie Kinane 6 digs and Katie Rueffer 5 digs and 6 assists.
"Give credit to Geneva," Trippi-Payne said. "They have all that experience on that team. They showed a little bit of composure when they needed to at the end of both of those games. I think we surprised them a little bit today. I don't think they thought we were going to be as tough as some of the other teams they've seen."