Geneva turns table on St. Charles North
St. Charles North has been Geneva's proverbial big brother for the first seven years of the Viking boys volleyball program. The North Stars have dominated the teams' series in regional and conference action, highlighted by winning the last three Upstate Eight River titles.
On Wednesday night, little brother grew up.
The Vikings captured their first regional championship in the program's history by beating the North Stars 27-25, 22-25, 25-16 in a hard-fought, back-and-forth finals of the Geneva regional. The victory advances Geneva to the Harlem sectional, where it will make its first sectional appearance in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Machesney Park.
Until recently, the Vikings seemed an unlikely candidate for a regional crown. Geneva (20-16) had lost to St. Charles North (23-13) in three sets in April, then went on a 9-match losing streak after an injury to outside hitter Luke Will. But the Vikings righted the ship with a two-set win over Wheaton Academy in the regional semifinals on Tuesday, then dug deep for one of their best performances of the season according to coach Annie Seitelman to rally past the North Stars.
St. Charles North coach Todd Weimer was duly impressed.
"I have to hand it to Geneva," Weimer said. "They fought hard and strong. Annie's a great coach, and they have an up-and-coming program, which is good for the area. I think they can keep it going through the sectional ... and get to the Elite Eight."
The Vikings gained the early upper hand by winning a tightly contested first set in which the lead changed hands seven times. St. Charles North served for set point leading 24-23, but the Vikes remained poised under pressure. Middle hitter Jon Bishop (six kills) staved it off with a kill to tie it at 24-24 before middle hitter Sam Wulfkuhle's kill off a quick set from setter David Franz and Will's kill that he tooled off a North double block on the left side gave Geneva an emotional first-set victory.
"We were too hyped up and overzealous when we played (North) last month," Geneva outside hitter Nick Buseski said. "Today we had focus. We knew what this was all about and were just focused on each of us doing our jobs on the court. We played with a lot of confidence."
Geneva continued its sharp play in the second set, taking a 21-18 lead on back-to-back kills by Buseski. But the North Stars refused to quit, turning to outside hitter Brendan Donlevy (match-high 20 kills), who delivered four kills, including a tip kill and a block of Buseski for the deciding point of the set.
But rather than panic, the Vikings stuck with their game plan in the decisive third set. Geneva relied on its size advantage at the net to gain breathing room, delivering blocks for kills on five consecutive points that turned an 8-6 lead into a 13-6 cushion to the delight of the Mack Olson Gym crowd.
The 6-foot-5 Bishop began the block party with a block for a point, followed by back-to-back blocks by the 6-8 Buseski, a block kill by Franz and a third block kill by Buseski. Geneva had 15 blocks for points in the match.
The Vikings weren't seriously threatened the rest of the set, and fittingly Buseski, the three-year varsity letterwinner, clinched the match and the title with a back-row attack for a kill to start Geneva's celebration.
"This feels awesome," Buseski said. "My sophomore year we played North in the regional. They beat us and went on to go to state with a great team. Watching our seniors lose to North that year made me want to win a regional. Our goal has been to win a regional with this team. I have a lot of good friends on this team, and we talked about winning the first regional here. It's a great feeling."
Buseski led Geneva's offensive attack with 13 kills, but the Kean University-bound senior had plenty of help. Wulfkuhle added eight kills, and Bishop and Will had six kills apiece. Will paced Geneva's defense with 22 digs, while libero Ethan Roesch had 19 digs.
"Our serve receive was fantastic, one of our best performances of the season, which allowed us to stay in system and distribute the ball to all of our hitters," Seitelman said.
Besides 20 kills, Donlevy added 24 digs. Libero Trevor Gonzaga topped St. Charles North with 30 digs.