Girls volleyball: After losing in sectional final last year, Geneva knocks off Montini to reach supersectional

Geneva outside hitter Emma Peterson wasn’t going to be denied Thursday night in the Class 3A girls volleyball sectional final at St. Francis.

The 6-foot junior hit a match-high 17 kills, 10 of those coming in the second set, to lead her team to a 25-23, 25-18 victory over No. 1 seed Montini.

“Emma just does a great job,” said Vikings coach Lauren Kosecki. “We knew that they (Montini) would try to block her in the middle, triple-block her maybe in the middle, but she stayed aggressive and that’s what we wanted her to do.

“Don’t back down, just keep going.”

The Broncos actually did a terrific job against Peterson in the early going. But the junior came alive in the second set as Geneva breezed to the win.

They'll move on to face Lake Forest, an upset winner over Vernon Hills, in a supersectional matchup Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Timothy Christian.

“She (Peterson) is a very good volleyball player,” said Montini coach Erik Vogt. “It’s very hard to defend against a kid who has a multitude of shots.

“Geneva played really well.”

The third-seeded Vikings reached the sectional final last year but lost to Nazareth. Senior setter Alyssa Stevenson said that was on the mind of herself and her teammates coming into the game against Montini.

“This means a lot,” Stevenson said of the triumph. “At this time last year, we lost this game in three sets, it was really tough. We all talked about that before this match. This was our redemption, this was our time to win.”

Set one was tied at 23 when Stevenson pushed her team ahead with a well-placed tip kill. A hitting error from Montini on the next point put Geneva up one set to none.

The Vikings ran out to a 21-12 lead in set two behind the hitting of Peterson, the defense of senior libero Lexi Meives, and the prowess of Meives from the service line with three consecutive aces.

Then Montini (28-11) rallied, scoring the next five points as junior Micaela Haggerty hit a pair of aces.

Geneva (29-10) was able to extend the lead to 24-18, sending Stevenson to the line to serve for match point.

“I mean, I knew we had to keep going,” said the senior as she readied herself for the most important serve of the match. “I was like, I wanted to do this for my team. I said ‘just get the ball in the court and finish out this game.'"

Stevenson did just that, and Montini couldn’t get the ball back over the net, setting off a wild celebration for the Vikings.

“This means so much to us,” said Geneva sophomore middle Charlotte Otto. “Playing with all these girls has been amazing. Hopefully we can continue this.”

Vikings coach Kosecki added that her team “played hard, and played with heart.”

“We had a game plan and the kids stuck to it. We knew we had to battle, Montini is a really good team, and I’m proud of the way we stepped up.”

Broncos coach Vogt noted that despite the loss, it was a great season for his program, especially his fourth-year players.

“I’m really proud of our seniors," he said. "We were using a lineup tonight that we just put in yesterday. Our right side was sick, and we had to move people around (this year) to so many different lineups. The kids battled and they played their hearts out.”