Geneva’s Emma Peterson follows guidance from coach Lauren Kosecki, a former player at NIU and Michigan State

Looking to take the next step in her career, Geneva’s Emma Peterson couldn’t have a better sounding board than her coach, Lauren Kosecki.

Kosecki, a Division I volleyball player at Northern Illinois and Michigan State, is uniquely equipped to help as the Dayton-bound Peterson continues to improve.

“It’s really nice because she knows everything about it,” Peterson said of Kosecki. “She’s easy to go to for anything.”

That guidance is nice, but sometimes, pure talent prevails. Peterson, a junior outside hitter, put away 16 kills Thursday night for the host Vikings in a 25-9, 26-24 nonconference win over West Aurora.

Peterson produced 10 kills in the second game as Geneva (5-4) coughed up a 9-2 lead and actually trailed 22-20 before rallying for the win.

Zori Malone added six kills and served six aces for the Vikings. Natalie Mitchell paced West Aurora (3-12) with six kills, while Paige Werve tallied five kills and Aiyanah Vega had two kills and an ace.

Last season, Peterson was a varsity newcomer loaded with talent. Much has changed in the past year as she’s emerged as one of the area’s best attackers. She has 112 kills so far this season.

Kosecki has seen that progression firsthand.

“She’s more confident,” Kosecki said of Peterson. “We talked about her being a leader and how that looks and she’s done a really nice job stepping up. People look to you, so take charge.

“I feel like she’s really started to do that, and it’s really awesome to see.”

One of the big points of emphasis has been staying aggressive even when thing get out of system.

Instead of being content to just get the ball back over, Peterson has been more aggressive in scramble situations. She’s comfortable being set in the back row as well.

“She takes out-of-system balls and takes a swing on it instead of tipping and rolling,” Kosecki said. “Stay aggressive. Nothing hurts to stay aggressive. She’s really taken off in the back row and the front row, and it’s really nice to see. We’ve worked on that a lot.

“Let’s have an offense not only on the front row but on the back row.”

Geneva faltered Tuesday night in a 25-19, 13-25, 25-23 DuKane Conference loss to St. Charles North, and that aggressiveness wasn’t always on display.

Peterson and the Vikings took it upon themselves Thursday to change that.

“Definitely something I’ve been working on is staying aggressive in tight matches,” Peterson said. “Coach was like, ‘We were in this situation on Tuesday and we kind of crumbled.’

“I think that doing this definitely proved that we can do it.”

After a dominant first game, Geneva led 9-2 in the second. West Aurora woke up and took it to the Vikings, however. Suddenly, the Blackhawks led 22-20 and threatened to send it to a third game.

“I think having a momentum switch was tough the first set,” West Aurora coach Alyssa Farney said. “We had to figure some things out. We made some adjustments and we came out in the second game and it was a complete change in energy. The kids really fought for it.

“I’m proud of us for turning it around, because it’s not an easy thing to do.”

With Geneva trailing 24-22 and staring down a third game, Peterson put down two straight kills to force a tie before a pair of West Aurora errors ended the match.

The first of those two kills came from the back row. Malone also had three back-row kills.

“It’s definitely something that’s been really effective and we’ve seen it,” Peterson said. “I think doing that a lot more will make it harder for teams to score on us.”