Late charge ignites Bulldogs

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

ADDISON -- Down a set, with its season in the balance, Batavia's girls volleyball team had to find a way to fight back in its Class 4A Addison Trail Regional semifinal against Wheaton Warrenville South on Thursday.

The seventh-seeded Bulldogs did just that, squeaking out a 23-25, 25-22, 26-24 win to set up a rematch with Geneva in Saturday's regional final at 1 p.m. The Vikings topped Addison Trail 25-17, 25-21.

"These girls have fought so hard," Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said. "Last week we battled Sycamore and took them to three and then lost to Geneva. So good for these kids to come back after a little bit of rest and get their minds back into the game and beat a team in the DVC. How about that?"

It looked as if it would be easy early on for Batavia (21-14-1). The Bulldogs opened a 20-13 lead in the first set and appeared to be on cruise control. But suddenly, the Tigers (18-18) roared back. The Tigers' Shealyn Kolosky went on a rampage to pull WW South back into it. She had three kills and a block consecutively, followed by a Sarah Michell kill and two Krysta Watts aces to give the Tigers a 21-20 lead. They held on to take Game 1.

"We broke down a little bit on serve-receive there, struggled a little bit," Trippi-Payne said. "Give them credit. They had nothing to lose, down seven points. Their block was really solid. It got to be pretty tough. After Game 1, we sat back and thought about what we needed to change. We made one change on defense. We needed to pass a little bit better."

WW South proceeded to take a 15-9 lead in Game 2 before the Bulldogs mounted their comeback. The Bulldogs didn't have any significant runs but slowly climbed back into it, tying the match at 22. A kill from Mary Nilles, a block from Kelsey VandenBorn (one of her team-high six) and a Tigers error provided the equalizer to force a third set.

"I think we just got really excited and needed to calm down," said Batavia junior Caitlin Piechota, who had a team-high 17 kills. "They're a very tough team. They fought back and played hard, just the same way we did. They wound up taking the first game, but we came back really strong in the second game. We worked really hard to just win this game and move on. We just came together, played with intensity and put the ball where we needed it to go."

Batavia jumped out to an 18-11 lead in Game 3, but the Tigers, the No. 10 seed, clawed back to take a 23-22 lead. Consecutive kills from Piechota and a stunning, sliding dig from Ashlee Colby that landed on the Tigers' side of the court turned the tide and eventually led to a Batavia win, setting up a rematch against a Geneva team the Bulldogs lost to twice during the season.

"We're really excited to play Geneva again," Piechota said. "We're prepared for them, so it should be a good time."

The second-seeded Vikings (35-2) advanced with relative ease against the 15th-seeded Blazers. The Vikings fought through several service errors and a surprisingly good block from the Blazers to take Game 1 before surviving a late Addison Trail charge in Game 2 and advancing to the regional final. Girls Volleyball | ADDISON TRAIL REGIONAL