Unbeaten Geneva claims Plainfield North crown

Even without its Big Ten commitment in tow, the Geneva girls volleyball still presents formidable challenges for its opponents.

Saturday evening in the championship match of the 24-team Plainfield North Crosstown Showdown Invitational, St. Charles North appeared headed for a decisive third set in the Upstate Eight River rivals' early get-together.

But the Vikings scored 7 of the last 8 points of the match to close out the North Stars in straight games in their first appearance at the tournament.

With the 25-20, 25-20 victory in Plainfield - its fifth during the two-day tournament - Geneva extended its season-opening winning streak to six.

The North Stars (5-1) dropped their first match of the infant season.

"I think it shows (Wisconsin recruit Grace Loberg) is not our only good player and how our whole team works together without her being here," said Sydney Schwiebert, who took the last of a match-high 21 assists from Mikayla Lanessa for the clinching kill.

"I think we're going to have a really good season."

The North Stars' Daley Krage had consecutive points to give St. Charles North a 21-18 lead in the second game.

St. Charles North surrendered service honors on a hitting violation, however.

The Vikings' Ally Barrett and Ally Mullen tied the match on the ensuing pair of points; an exchange of mistakes forged the final tie at 22-all.

Barrett had the last of her match-high 11 kills that triggered the 3-point Lanessa service run the Vikings' setter closed out with her feed to Schwiebert.

"We just kept up the energy," Lanessa said. "We hit the ball really hard, blocked really well and worked really well the whole game. I think we did awesome, and if we keep playing like this we're going to go far."

The first set was also a seesaw affair over the first 20 points.

But Geneva had the decisive run of either game, a 14-4 burst, that turned a 2-point deficit into a commanding 23-15 cushion.

Peyton Bellano had an ace for Geneva, and the North Stars would never lead again in the first set.

Barrett had a pair of kills in the run; Kyley Thompson and Mullen also added winners for Geneva.

The advantage was needed to offset the brilliance of St. Charles North outside Claire Anderson, who had an ace and 6 of her team-high 10 kills in the opening set.

"(The match) was really close because we're such big rivals," Anderson said. "We just need to learn to put away some of those balls. I think we played very well as well."

Rosary played five 3-set matches but managed to win a pair to earn 15th place.

"Playing long games gets us prepared for the next match," Rosary offensive leader Erin Burke said.

Batavia had to settle for 21st with its fifth-place win in the Bronze Division.