St. Charles East takes care of Geneva in 2
St. Charles East senior Sam Szarmach hit the volleyball Wednesday night with the authority of a player with something to prove.
In a way, she did. Szarmach wasn't just excited about the Saints' first conference matchup with Geneva, she was playing against her former club and current Vikings coach KC Johnsen.
Szarmach came out swinging and didn't stop until a rocket on match point that wrapped up the Saints' 25-19, 25-18 victory in front of a large crowd at Geneva.
Szarmach finished with a match-high 13 kills and 4 blocks for St. Charles East (15-5, 4-1), who took the lead midway through Game 1 and then held off Geneva (15-5, 1-2) the rest of the night.
"I really wanted the ball tonight, I wanted every ball to come to me because I knew I could put it away," Szarmach said. "I was really feeling it, (setter) Erienne (Barry) was putting it up very well and we played really well as a team."
The Saints and Vikings nearly met for the sectional title last year until York upset the Vikings in the sectional semifinals. Geneva is a much different looking team this year but gave the Saints all they wanted early.
Andrea Boser's block put the Vikings ahead 3-1 and was the start of a strong effort at the net against the taller Saints. Geneva held its biggest lead of the night at 12-8.
"We've been working on our blocking and this (SCE) was a pretty good hitting team," Johnsen said. "I thought we were touching a lot of balls at the net. We need to cover just a little better."
The Saints took the lead at 13-12 on a run of 5 Maisey Mulvey serves. Tied at 16, Szarmach again connected and the Saints didn't trail again. They got to game point when Barry set Nicole Lambert in the middle, then sealed it when Mulvey's serve dropped just inside the back line for an ace.
"I think every single kid is back in their rhythm and it feels good," Saints coach Jennie Kull said. "A total team victory."
Unlike Game 1, the Saints stayed in front nearly all of the second game. Johnsen took an early timeout down 9-4 and the Vikings pulled as close as 10-8.
Nicole Woods came off the bench for a block to give the Saints a 24-17 lead. After Brooke Morphis kept the Vikings alive by pushing a shot to an opening deep in the Saints back row, Szarmach delivered her final kill on Barry's 26th assist.
"We wanted to welcome them to conference," Szarmach said of the Vikings. "We were really excited to play them. It was a big win, it was one we needed to get tonight."
Mulvey led the Saints defense with 8 digs. Other key contributors included Meghan Niski (5 kills, 5 digs), Olivia Desormey (3 kills), Sarah Dugan (4 digs), Kathleen Dailey (4 blocks) and Lambert (3 blocks).
Brooke Binette and Riley Sullivan both had 6 kills for Geneva. Morphis added 16 assists, Boser 3 blocks and Ashleigh Shain 10 digs.
"We needed to play a pretty flawless match when they (the Saints) are playing that well," Johnsen said. "They have some big guns over there. Give St. Charles credit, they didn't try to coast or take us lightly, they played pretty solid from the beginning to the end."