Girls volleyball: Geneva downs St. Charles East to stay undefeated
Building upon its tournament title at last weekend's Wheaton Classic, Geneva's girls volleyball team moved another step closer to an Upstate Eight Conference River Division crown Tuesday night in St. Charles.
Displaying a businesslike approach in a hostile environment, the top-ranked Vikings (15-0, 3-0) continued their season-long mastery with a 25-21, 25-20 victory over St. Charles East (13-4, 2-1).
"We always know that coming into East, it's never an easy place to play," said Vikings coach Annie Seitelman. "They get a good fan section and turnout. I thought the kids did a real nice job with staying composed in this environment."
Geneva snapped a 16-all deadlock in the opening set on a push kill by 6-foot-2 senior outside hitter Grace Loberg (6 kills), then capitalized on back-to-back Saints hitting errors to open a 19-16 advantage.
Loberg's back-row putdown and a middle kill by Alexandria Mullen (4 kills) sealed the Vikings' first-set triumph.
"We were able to get our middles more involved," said Seitelman. "However, that's something we'll continue to work on."
In the second set, Geneva built a 17-11 lead thanks in part to solid serving from junior libero Payton Bellano (3 aces), Mikayla Lanasa, Ally Barrett and Loberg.
"She's got a great serve," Seitelman said of Bellano.
Strong serving served a dual purpose for the Vikings.
"That always helps us out when we can serve aggressively," said the coach. "When we can put the other team out of system, that helps our defense and blocking. Our kids do a great job of placing serves and we don't have the same serve twice. We've got a lot of variety."
Fresh from its title-winning performance at last Saturday's Mother McAuley tournament, St. Charles East kept the pressure on the nationally ranked Vikings.
Led by seniors Emily Schildmeyer (8 kills, 4 digs), Kyla Augustine (7 kills) and Morgan Kull (4 kills, 8 assists, 2 digs), the Saints scored 3 straight points to pull within 20-19.
The teams traded service errors before Geneva rattled off the final 4 points of the match - the last 2 coming on back-to-back kills by Barrett (match-high 9 kills).
"(St. Charles) East is our biggest rival," said Barrett. "They're a good team and it's always fun to play them. It's probably our most satisfying win that we have in our conference.
"We didn't want to get flustered because they had a huge crowd. We're friends with a lot of people on their team so we had to be calm and composed - no friends until after the game."
Lanasa added 20 assists for the Vikings.
"This is always a huge conference win for us," said Seitelman.
Kyra Slavik (11 assists, 3 digs), Rachael Garland (6 digs), Anna Skyrd (4 digs), and Klaudia Sowizral (3 kills) supported the cause for the Saints.
"They just have a lot of firepower," Saints coach Jennie Kull said of the Vikings. "Grace (Loberg) and Ally (Barrett) - they had the points. But I couldn't be prouder of my kids. They battled. Our passing was very good. We just needed a few more swings.
"The best part about tonight was the crowd. It was awesome."