Girls volleyball: Geneva sweeps St. Charles North
St. Charles North rolled through a 34-4 season last year behind a trio of Division I-bound seniors.
North Stars coach Lindsey Hawkins experienced a few flashbacks Thursday with an up-close look at this year's Geneva Vikings.
Geneva, the Daily Herald's top-ranked team, continued its perfect season, rolling to a 25-13, 25-18 victory in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division matchup.
"That team is solid," Hawkins said. "They have every piece to the puzzle they possibly need to make it downstate. I think that's a special team. They remind me very much of my team last year with that senior leadership. They understand how to play with a sense of urgency."
Geneva (11-0, 2-0) raced to a 7-1 lead in the opening set on a 5-point service run by one of those Division I players, 6-foot-1 Ally Barrett. Setter Mikayla Lanasa ran a couple quick sets in the middle to Allie Mullen that caught the North Stars flat-footed.
"Trying to always establish our middles but that is dictated by our serve-receive," Geneva coach Annie Seitelman said. "When our serve-receive broke down in the second we struggled to get them established. Mikayla does a nice job of distrusting the ball when we are in system. When we are out of system we rely heavily on our outsides. They did a nice job of getting the ball down tonight."
St. Charles North (7-4, 2-1) ran a quick set of its own, Katie Lanz finding Anna DuVall, to trim Geneva's lead to 13-5.
The Vikings quickly pushed back. Molly Lambillotte and Grace Loberg both served four straight points. Lambillotte, Loberg and Barrett combined for 4 aces in the opening set.
Loberg's kill took Geneva to set point, which Geneva won on a North Star violation.
St. Charles North's best stretch came early in the second set. Jordan Silvers and Lanz blocked Loberg, then Lanz timed another block perfectly for a 7-5 North Star lead.
"I think the girls got into a rhythm, this is how they swing, this is when we go up," Hawkins said. "And it helped we were taking them out of system a little more so they weren't getting as many on-the-net swings."
Geneva pulled even at 12, the start of a 5-0 run that ended with Loberg's block for a 16-12 lead.
The Vikings ended the match with a pinpoint pass from Loberg to Lanasa who set Barrett for a blast the North Stars couldn't dig deep in the back row.
"We came out with a lot of energy at first and the second game got nerve-racking but we stayed really composed and we did a really good job of keeping every ball in play and going for every ball and playing smart," Lanasa said.
Abby Graham paced the North Stars with 5 kills, and Lanz and Amanda Parker added 3 each. Lauren Caprini had 10 digs and Hallie Wohlert 6 assists.
Loberg finished with a match-high 10 kills and 8 digs. Barrett added 7 kills and 4 digs, Lanasa had 18 assists and Payton Bellano led with 17 digs for the undefeated Vikings.
"I wasn't expecting it," Lanasa said. "I'm really excited. I think we are going to go really far this year. We have so much skill on the team but it's really when the team comes together that makes a team a team and makes a team win. It's not just about the skill, it's about working together. We have to work on our mental toughness and staying composed. It's going awesome right now."