Batavia outlasts WW South
Batavia earned another shot at archrival Geneva, but the Bulldogs first had to put in a long, hard night of volleyball at the Class 4A regional at Addison Trail on Thursday.
The No. 7 Bulldogs (21-14-1) let a 20-13 lead slip away in Game 1 against No. 10 Wheaton Warrenville South but regrouped to outlast the Tigers 23-25, 25-22, 26-24. With the victory Batavia advances to Saturday's 1 p.m. regional title match against second-seeded Geneva, which swept host Addison Trail in the last of three matches played Thursday at Addison Trail.
"What a big win for our girls. We beat a team in the DVC," said Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne. "We let that lead get away in the first game, but give Wheaton Warrenville South credit. They served real aggressively and they blocked solid."
WW South came out sloppy and quickly trailed 10-2 following a kill by the Bulldogs Katie Rueffer. The Tigers did claw back to within 13-9 following a winner by Jacky Rodriguez but then got behind 20-13. An 8-0 run by the Tigers (18-18) powered them to a 25-23 victory in the opener, but Batavia was more consistent the rest of the night led by junior outside Caitlin Piechota, who slammed down a career-equalling best 16 kills in the match.
"We let the first one slip away and we just knew we needed to calm down," Piechota said. "We came back with more intensity. We just said, 'Forget about it and come out strong the next two games.' "
Batavia turned the tables on the Tigers in Game 2, falling behind 10-5 and then 16-11 only to battle back and prevail 25-23 to set up a decisive third game. Defense played a big role as libero Stephanie Kinane recorded a career-high 19 digs and Kelsey VandenBorn added 6 block kills for Batavia. Game 3 was tight throughout, but the Bulldogs did grab a quick 6-1 lead before WW South managed to tie the match at 21, 22, 23 and 24 before Batavia pulled out the long match after a winning dig made it 25-24 and then a Tigers' hitting error ended the tilt.
"We just ran out of gas both in Game 2 and Game 3," Tigers coach Bill Schreier said. "You wish sometimes you could just get off to a fast start, but that's volleyball. (Piechota) had a great game for them."
Rodriguez, a junior who had 18 digs for the Tigers, hopes her team can grow from this experience and take the lessons into next season.
"We were down but we battled," she said. "We just didn't battle all the way back. We had too many rough starts this year, and we need to learn from that for next year."