St. Charles North rallies to topple Geneva
The third set was an anticlimactic exercise for the Geneva boy volleyball team.
In a showdown with fellow Upstate Eight Conference River Division unbeaten against St. Charles North, the North Stars limited the Vikings' offensive options.
It also took Geneva 29 combined points to earn a service point.
The Vikings never recovered from St. Charles North scoring 12 of the first 16 points of the final set Tuesday evening. The North Stars improved to 15-7 and 4-0 with their 23-25, 25-18, 25-15 victory in St. Charles.
Geneva fell to 14-9, 3-1.
"It was kind of disheartening a little bit," St. Charles North coach Todd Weimer said of his squad losing a late 4-point lead in the opening game. "We didn't finish that first set. I thought we were pretty tight (to begin). We played much better in the second and third sets."
One of the central storylines of the match was the North Stars' offensive diversity, while the Vikings had to rely too heavily on its senior standout, powerful 6-foot-8 right side Nicholas Buseski.
The senior had a ubiquitous presence on the court, leading both sides with 17 kills. But the Vikings' second-most prolific hitter, Luke Will, had 4 kills.
The North Stars, conversely, counted 23 combined kills from Brendan Donlevy (10), Drew Lanz (8) and Danny Hamilton (5).
"We lost the edge (after the first set)," Buseski said. "A lot of our other big hitters weren't really swinging. Usually, this year especially, we're able to spread it out so we each have about the same amount of kills."
Buseski had 3 straight team kills late in the first game, and Jonathan Bishop had his first kill of the night to give Geneva a 24-23 first-set lead.
The North Stars' bid for an equalizer was undermined by a hitting error.
But the North Stars would trail only for a single point on three occasions for the last 83 points of the match.
Lanz and Donlevy combined for 4 kills in a 5-point sequence early in the second set, and the North Stars would neither surrender the lead nor allow Geneva to deadlock a set.
Bishop had a block to bring Geneva within 16-15 in the second game, but Lanz had 3 kills, including the set-clincher, over the next 8 points.
"I definitely think that we spread out our offense, and that's what helped us win that (second) game," Lanz said. "We loosened up and focused on our side rather than theirs. We really keyed on (Buseski) and focused our defense around him."
The Vikings' inability to generate any service efficiency in the deciding set was the telltale sign.
"We served pretty timidly," Geneva coach Anne Seitelman said. "It's going to be tough (to win) when you can't be aggressive at the service line."