Vikings make crunch time their own
GENEVA — The showdown quickly became a smackdown.
Geneva beat Batavia 25-16 Tuesday in the opening game of its Western Sun Conference match but the Vikings were just getting warmed up.
Jon Cunningham/For the beacon news
Geneva setter Megan Odenthal twice made made quick sets just above the net that were hammered home by 6-foot-1 middle hitter Kelsey Augustine, and Taylor Whitley fired in two aces during her six-point serving run to open a lopsided second game that the hosts won 25-9
"Those are my favorites," Augustine said of the quick sets that helped lead to her match-high eight kills. She also had three blocks.
"She gets in there fast and just pounds them," said Odenthal, who finished with 20 assists.
Outside hitter Lauren Wicinski added seven kills and middle hitter Katie Sommer added six kills and two blocks.
"It's kind of the nature of the position for a middle to get in there quick or else you'll have three blockers on you at a time," said Odenthal.
"If you want to run a faster offense, you run your middle in the quick (set) and Lauren has all the time in the world to get outside and I can throw off passes to her. She will only have a maximum of two blockers and she has a lot more (hitting) angles than Kelsey would have."
The win lifts Geneva to 17-1 overall and a perfect 7-0 in the league.
"I think we did a real good job of staying focused and keeping that momentum from that first game rolling right into the second," said Geneva coach K.C. Johnsen.
"We're real happy to get through the first round of the conference 7-0. The conference is pretty tough."
The Bulldogs, who fell to 11-7 and 5-2, had no digs in the second game and gave up 11 service aces, said Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne.
"We knew exactly what they were gonna do on every rotation," she said. "I had seven pages of notes, but they served us off the court. We did not pass well. ... Lately, we haven't been passing as well as we should and we've been getting away with it. You can't get away with against a team like this."
Taylor Koncelik led the Bulldogs with three kills and Melissa Norville and Laura Dooolin had just two each.
Odenthal was surprised the match went by so quick.
"Batavia always plays us really tough," she said. "I would have never expected that. They are the team that (normally) rallies with us the longest. The team that gets those amazing ups."
This time, they melted down.
Volleyball: Geneva Def. Batavia 25-16, 25-9
