Girls volleyball: Geneva continues strong start
After going 3-2 and playing four 3-set matches Saturday at Plainfield North's Tournament, Geneva was eager to get back on the court Tuesday and see if it had learned from those weekend tests.
It took a little over a half an hour for the Vikings to put visiting DeKalb away, winning 25-12, 25-16.
"It was a really good tournament and we know what we have to work on from that," Geneva senior Mary Cate McCormick said.
The immediate goal for Geneva (5-2) is to get ready for DuKane Conference play, which starts next Tuesday against one of the favorites, Wheaton Warrenville South.
The Vikings have one tuneup left Wednesday night at Waubonsie Valley.
"Our goal is to win conference this year," McCormick said. "Our conference is really good but I think we are very capable of doing it.
"Ever since freshman year I've been excited for this year. I've known these girls forever. I knew we'd have a really good year."
McCormick helped Geneva get off to a quick start Tuesday when she took a back set from Anna Loberg and slammed it down for a kill and a 7-3 lead. Moments later Loberg found Devynn Day for another kill and an 8-4 lead.
DeKalb (3-4) coach Hannah Murray took a timeout after Cassidy Brown tooled a ball off a blocker to put the Vikings up 13-6. The Barbs scored a couple points to pull within 5 before a 10-2 Geneva surge that included a Brown kill and McCormick ace put the set away.
"Geneva is a very consistent, disciplined team," Murray said. "They did a good job of not making too many errors but still being aggressive. My team kind of did the opposite tonight. This was a good wake-up call."
Loberg fired a pair of early aces in the second set as Geneva took a 7-1 lead. Isabella Finch's ace got the Barbs as close as 17-15 before Geneva ended the match on an 8-1 run that included a smash from the back row by Brown and three more kills from Day.
Loberg finished with 19 assists with Day (10) and Brown (5) leading in kills. All three are juniors.
"We've got a nice of group of returning juniors," Geneva coach Annie Seitelman said. "We ask a lot of them to step up and they have experience at this level. But we really have a good group of seniors too this year that are stepping in and making some plays in their different roles."
Senior Grace Hinchman led Geneva with 11 digs. McCormick did plenty of the things coaches love that don't always show up on the stat sheet.
"Mary did a nice job on right side in her serve-receive and defensive moves," said Seitelman, who agreed with her senior about the benefits from their weekend tourney. "We're right there with some really good teams and just made some silly beginning of the season mistakes."