Morphis sets tone for Geneva's win
Batavia knew it had to prepare for Geneva's outstanding front-line hitters, but what they couldn't account for was the direction of junior setter Brooke Morphis.
With the precision of a symphony conductor, Morphis tallied 20 assists to help defeat the Bulldogs 25-19, 25-11 and win the Class 4A Addison Trail regional.
The Vikings (35-2) now advance on to the Geneva sectional Tuesday against York, who beat Geneva in last year's sectional semifinals.
"I absolutely love it," Morphis said. "I know 20 assists sounds like a lot, but it's pretty easy to do when you have such good passers and great hitters like we did today."
Geneva coach K.C. Johnsen said when the season started, he wasn't sure what to expect out of Morphis filling in for the injured Megan Odenthal, but she's been a key to their success so far this season.
"She's just getting better all of the time," Johnsen said. "Coming into this season she was kind of a question mark for us, but I think she's answered it very well."
Senior Lauren Wicinski had 15 kills while Kelsey Augustine added 6 and Alexa Sommer 5. Wicinski also had high praise for Morphis.
"Brooke did a great job today," Wicinski said. "She moved the ball around really nice and you really never knew where it was going - actually, we never really knew where it was going either."
In the first game, Wicinski led Geneva to a quick 10-5 lead with five kills, but the Bulldogs were able to come back and tie it on the serving of senior Katie Rueffer. The Bulldogs fought to keep the match close, but four more kills by Wicinski and two by Katie Sommer finished off the Bulldogs.
Batavia (21-15-1) was able to adjust better to the hard spikes coming from Geneva's front line in the second match, but the Vikings displayed how well-rounded they are by earning most of their points on the ability of the servers. Maddy Kolquist earned four straight serving points to put the Vikings out front 8-3, and Morphis and Wicinski served four points each as well to lead to Vikings to the championship.
Bulldogs coach Lori Trippi-Payne admitted that she tried changing up her strategy slightly after the first game, but acknowledged that the Vikings have many ways to dissect their opponent.
"I told my assistants that sometimes it's not good to get them out of their system," Trippi-Payne said. "We weren't stopping their back row attacks. Our kids have worked hard all year long. I give Geneva a lot of credit. We gave them a run for their money, but once they started breaking ahead of us, it's hard to battle back against a team like that. They just have so many weapons."