Geneva sweeps Kaneland
With a matchup like the one Wednesday night at Kaneland between two teams whose players know each other so well can be both a blessing and a curse.
All that familiarity led to a few more nerves — and mistakes — than usual. Geneva missed 7 serves in its 25-19, 27-25 victory while the Knights struggled even more missing 9.
But knowing your opponent so well, which both teams do from playing club volleyball together, proved to pay off at the most opportune time for the Vikings.
Leading 26-25 with its second match point, Geneva junior Hannah Buck got a good read on where Kaneland’s Lyndi Scholl was going and blocked her shot to end the match.
“I play against Lyndi during the club season so I know her angles and her shots,” Buck said. “I just went up where I thought she was going to go and I got it.”
Geneva (15-5) followed Tuesday’s 3-game win over Batavia by handing Kaneland (15-5) its first home loss of the year. The Vikings also avenged a regular-season loss to the Knights last year in Geneva.
“I think at times we went like a roller coaster and went down at points but we had really high points and stayed strong until the end,” Geneva junior Hannah Buck said.
Wichita State recruit Katy Dudzinski’s kill on the opening point of the match got the Knights off to a good start. Kaneland stayed ahead until a block by Melissa Hanika tied the score at 8, and one of the Knights’ four net violations on the next point put the Vikings ahead to stay, 9-8.
Geneva went on 12-1 surge in the middle of Game 1 to turn an 8-6 deficit into a commanding 18-9 lead. Stephanie Earl tipped for a kill on game point.
Earl (10 assists) and Ashleigh Shain (7 assists, 10 digs) mixed up Geneva’s attack all night in contrast to the Knights feeding Dudzinski (11 kills) and Groen (6 kills).
“We know we don’t want to stand there and go gun to gun with Katie,” Geneva coach KC Johnsen said. “We needed to move the ball around a little more. We don’t want to get caught where everyone knows where the ball is going to go.”
Kaneland coach Todd Weimer lamented 12 unforced errors in Game 2. Eliminating just a few could have made the difference as the teams battled through 11 ties — including a tie at every point from 17-17 to 25-25.
Leading 24-23 the Knights had a chance to force a Game 3. Buck delivered a clutch kill to even the score.
Otto’s block gave Geneva a 25-24 lead. Lauren Banbury kept the Knights alive with a kill before the Knights’ 10th hitting error of the night put Geneva ahead 26-25.
“Hitting errors both sides, serving errors both sides,” Weimer said. “The excitement, the nerves, it caries over. You like to control it but you can’t.”
Hanika topped Geneva with 6 kills, Buck had 5 and Otto led with 3 blocks.
“Everyone knows each other,” Johnsen said. “You always want to beat you buddies. That’s like brothers going out in the back yard and going at it.”
Geneva heads to the Mizuno Cup this weekend while Kaneland has a key conference match Thursday night at Morris before traveling to Iowa this weekend for a tourney. The Knights are tied with DeKalb for the Northern Illinois Big 12 lead and host the Barbs next Tuesday.
“We’re just not executing the game plan,” Weimer said. “We’re still trying to figure that out. It’s going to sting a little bit but hopefully it’s a wake-up call. We’ve got to pick up the pace a little in practice, pick up the pace in matches.”