Vikings put away game, Foxes squad

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YORKVILLE - The beat rolls on for Geneva's volleyball team.

In the midst of an outstanding season, the Vikings took to the road and took care of a hardscrabble Yorkville squad 25-14, 25-15 in Western Sun Conference action.

Geneva improved to 20-1 overall and 10-0 in the Western Sun. The Vikings have yet to lose a set in conference play, and their only loss on the season is to Joliet Catholic, which is No. 1 in the latest Chicago Sun-Times rankings. Geneva is ranked No. 10.

The Foxes put up a fight, however. They took advantage of a slow Geneva start to lead 4-3 in the opening set and trailed only 8-6 after a kill by senior outside hitter Alex Nelson.

But sooner or later, the Vikings make teams pay for mistakes. They ran off the next five points, three on Yorkville errors, one on a block by setter Brooke Morphis (12 assists) and another on a Kelsey Augustine kill.

Augustine's point ignited her game. She proceeded to record three of the next four Geneva points on a block and two kills, widening the margin to 17-9. Yorkville got a pair of blocks by Katrina Donarski but was unable to sustain a three-touch offense with any regularity. After Morphis made a great dig to keep the ball alive, a Yorkville error put Geneva up 19-9.

The Foxes (4-18, 1-10) received a blow when freshman setter Rebecca Naumann went down with a sprained ankle late in the first set. Tiffany Nawa took over the setter duties.

"We have the abililty to turn it up a notch when we have to, but Yorkville had the girl (Naumann) turn an ankle, and I think that took a bit of their edge away," Geneva coach KC Johnsen said.

Geneva's other outstanding 6-foot-1-inch senior, besides Augustine, is outside hitter Lauren Wicinski. She was relatively quiet in the opening set but came out on fire in the second, accumulating eight kills for the match. Augustine was close behind with seven.

The Vikings roared to a 4-0 lead and never trailed, getting contributions from a number of players. During the opening run, Shannon O'Neal registered a block, Wicinski slammed one home, Augustine served an ace, and Alexa Sommer added a kill, exhibiting the depth of talent that can take Geneva a long way in the postseason.

Yorkville hung around, benefiting from some uneven Vikings play and kills by Nelson and Lindsay Crawford to pull within 10-9. But the Foxes then committed a few errors, and Wicinski excelled with three kills and a dink in the final nine Viking points.

"I thought we adjusted real well when Rebecca went down," Yorkville coach Mike Dunn said. "Against a great team, we competed hard and accomplished some goals. We had several sticks on Wicinski and Augustine. And we never gave up, kept diving to keep the ball in play (four digs by libero Megan Grandchamp). We've been struggling with serve-receive, but we did a good job against the best serving team in the conference. I'm proud of my girls."