Batavia uses all-around performance to power past Kaneland

Batavia volleyball coach Lori Trippi-Payne thoroughly enjoyed her team's all-around performance Thursday night.

"Well, that was fun," Trippi-Payne said after watching the visiting Bulldogs (6-4, 3-1) knock off Kaneland 25-14, 25-22 in Maple Park.

There was a lot to like for Trippi-Payne and the Bulldogs, who opened with a 10-4 start while taking advantage of several Knights' miscues.

"We definitely were pumped up for this game," said junior outside hitter Caitlin Piechota, who paced the Bulldogs with 9 kills and added a pair of service aces in Game 1.

Batavia played a near-flawless opening game, recording kills from 4 different players - Piechota, Kelsey VandenBorn, Katie Rueffer and Mary Nilles - while covering every inch of the floor defensively.

"Kaneland's offense is incredible," said Trippi-Payne. "I thought we played great defense. We practiced a lot yesterday (Wednesday) on defense because I had heard some scouting reports on them and I knew what they were capable of doing. So we worked on defense all day."

Piechota felt the added defensive work paid huge dividends.

"We knew Kaneland was a very strong team and we prepared for it," said Piechota. "It (defense) was an area of concern. We played Glenbard South Tuesday and our defense wasn't as strong as our attacking and blocking so we worked on it. We picked up a lot of balls tonight."

Things went a little differently in Game 2, which featured 9 ties and 6 lead changes. Kaneland, led by 6-2 sophomore Katy Dudzinski (6 kills) and Alyssa Snyder (5 block kills), took a 20-19 lead on a Batavia hitting error before the Bulldogs tied it at 20-all on a middle kill from freshman Kristen Koncelik.

From there, Piechota took over, recording a block kill and back-to-back kills to push the Bulldogs' lead to 23-20. Batavia eventually iced it on a Kaneland net violation.

"I thought our girls played a great match, one of our best matches of the year," said Trippi-Payne. "We stayed steady the whole match and that's what you have to do against a team like this."

Batavia, which didn't have a service error in Game 1, also received a pair of kills from sophomore libero Stephanie Kinane in the second game.

"We practice that," said Trippi-Payne. "We want to get them (kills) from everywhere.

"We had a well-balanced attack with a lot of kids coming through in key situations. We mixed it up and tried to put the ball in different places on their side of the court."

VandenBorn had 6 kills while Nilles and Rueffer added 9 digs apiece for the Bulldogs.

Kaneland (4-6, 2-2) also was its worst enemy at times, committing 8 service errors - 5 of them coming in Game 1.

"We'd score so hard and try to get in our rotation," said Knights coach Todd Weimer, "then go back and miss a serve. It has been kind of a problem for us this season and it shouldn't happen, especially at the varsity level.

"We're not realizing our potential right away but it's still early in the season and we're going to get there."