Boys volleyball: St. Charles North downs Geneva for regional title

MACHESNEY PARK - Not much differentiated St. Charles North and Geneva Wednesday night. Both boys volleyball teams wore blue jerseys and featured powerful outside hitters. And, despite coming off disappointing regular seasons, they met for the title at the Machesney Park Harlem regional.

Not much separated the squads during the match, either, but the North Stars finally prevailed, 26-24, 25-22.

Geneva led the second set 20-18, but the North Stars finished on a 7-2 run thanks to a pair of service aces and a kill by Tom Koppang. A kill by Brendan Dal Degan off a Geneva blocker provided the match point.

"We just wanted it more," said Koppang. "We're both good teams, it's just a matter of who's ready to work for it."

"We served a little bit tougher tonight and got them out of system," said St. Charles coach Todd Weimer. "That goes a long way. They can't get the ball to the setter and run their offense like they want to."

The second-set comeback was similar to the final regular-season match last week.

"We've been working on trying to finish that, get over the hump," Weimer said. "Last week we were down in the first set 24-19 on senior night, and we came back and won that first set. To have to play Geneva again a week later is not easy, so kudos to the guys."

Kyle Donlevy had 7 kills and Danny Barsanti added 4 for the North Stars. Libero Sean O'Leary came up with 13 digs, and setter Danny Throop had 31 assists.

Geneva led most of the way in the first set as well. But the North Stars inched back, taking a 24-23 lead. A kill by Dominic Navigato tied it for the Vikings, but a pair of kills by Koppang, the second just inside the sideline, won it for St. Charles North.

Navigato led the Vikings (13-18) with 9 kills while Matt Johnson added 6.

"I have nothing negative to say about the game, we played hard from beginning to end," said Geneva coach Stephanie Rasmussen. "That's the true definition of a good volleyball match, where it goes back and forth and there's not one dominant team. At the end of the game, (Koppang) really took over and carried the team on his back, and they all rallied around him. We really didn't have a method to shut down their right side."