The understudy’s seamless transition to master boded well this season for the Geneva girls volleyball program.

As a junior last year, Kelly Dalheim admired the back-row wizardry of former Vikings libero Ashleigh Shain, who set the Vikings’ single-season digs record.

One year later and in her first season as the Vikings’ starting libero, Dalheim broke Shain’s short-lived season record of 475 digs by posting 573 to guide the defensive-minded Vikings to conference and regional championships. Dalheim, a low-profile, defensive specialist a year ago, is the Kane County Chronicle’s Girls Volleyball Player of the Year.