Girls volleyball: Genoa-Kingston ends St. Edward's season

Lily Mueller slammed down her eighth kill of the night, and a point later the Genoa-Kingston volleyball team did something 19 years in the making - claim a regional title.

The Cogs knocked off St. Edward, 25-9, 25-11, to claim the Class 2A Genoa-Kingston Regional championship, their first since 2002 and just the third in school history.

"It's a blessing," Mueller said. "I never would think we would get this far and I'm so happy to be a part of it. I'm so proud of every single one of these and we finally get to put something up there [on the banner in the gym] for us. It's been a really long time and means a lot to me. I'll never forget this night ever."

The win puts the Cogs (34-1) into the Class 2A Oregon Sectionals, where they'll get to face a Rock Falls team that handed them their first loss of the season earlier this month.

"The team is ready," Foster said. "We played them the first time at their house, thought we played a really strong first set, things just didn't go our way after that moment. But we are ready to go into Oregon and play ... them to the absolute best of our ability."

The first set started close, with both teams holding leads early. But then the Cogs got kills on three straight points from Alivia Keegan, the lead ballooned from three to seven, and the game never got close again.

"That was a game-changer," coach Keith Foster said. "It got our offense really going. Everybody really responded to what she was able to get started."

Aside from giving up the first point, the Cogs never trailed in the second set.

St. Edward (18-19) spent the night digging out of the G-K attack, with Francesca Ventimigila leading the way with 11 and Brooke Biggins adding four.

"I definitely think we played hard," Green Wave coach Dawn Gross said. "We probably shouldn't have given them as many free balls as we did because they utilized that and capitalized on it. But we hung with them. We wanted to come out and play hard. We knew their record and we're happy to be on the court with them."

Madeline Pogorzelski had three kills to lead the St. Edward offense.

"We needed to be more aggressive hitting," Green Wave coach Dawn Gross said. "But our defense, they were incredible. I was very happy with them."

With a small group of mostly seniors, Gross said she was pleased with the way the season turned out.

"I think we did much better than what we thought we were going to do," Gross said. "We ended up being the fourth seed, we were happy about that. We went 3-3 in conference, so I think we were really happy with how the season ended."

Hannah Langton and Alayna Pierce had four kills each for the Cogs, with Pierce adding eight digs.

And while St. Edward is done for the year, the Cogs get their rematch against Rock Falls.

"I think we really got to play our best and work together, but I'm really excited to face them again," Mueller said. "Hopefully we'll go farther."