Addison Trail makes it tough on Geneva

It was a win, a sweep no less, but Geneva knows it did not play its best volleyball Thursday night.

Maybe it was the late start, or maybe it was the fact that the No. 2 Vikings may have been expecting an easy win over a 15th-seeded Addison Trail squad that had to outlast No. 18 Rolling Meadows in three games earlier in the night. Maybe it was a little of each.

Either way, Geneva missed five serves early and struggled to put away the 17-19 Blazers before eventually prevailing 25-17, 25-21 to advance to the Class 4A regional final where it will attempt to defeat Batavia for a third straight time this season.

"We just came out very flat," Vikings coach KC Johnsen said after his squad improved to 34-2 on the year. "Give Addison credit. They came out scrappy and with more intensity than we did."

With Geneva misfiring on a number of serves early, the match was tied 7 times before the Vikings broke from an 8-8 draw to take a 16-10 lead following a tip winner by Katie Sommer and a powerful spike by Lauren Wicinski, who recorded a match-high 12 kills on the night. Kelsey Augustine, who finished the night with 10 kills, slammed home a pair of points late in the opener as the Vikings took Game 1 25-17.

The Blazers, who were paced by strong serving from Becca Hoder and some big blocks up front from Giana Casciola and Katie Keller, kept fighting in Game 2 despite facing deficits of 10-4 and 16-8.

When Casciola followed a Wicinski kill with one for Addison Trail, the Blazers found themselves within 22-18. But Augustine and Wicinski powered home the final two points of the night as Geneva prevailed 25-21 to advance.

"It's always a good game when we play Batavia," Johnsen said. "I don't think we'll be flat against Batavia."

Augustine said it was tough to hang around watching the Bulldogs' three-game win over Wheaton Warrenville South push their match more than an hour past its scheduled time.

"We got here ready to play and they still hadn't started the third game yet," she said. "It was hard to get in game mode and we came out weaker than we should have."

But like her coach, she doesn't expect that to the case on Saturday.

"It's going to be a good one since they're our rivals," she said. "It's going to be exciting."