Wicinski helps Vikes slam Bulldogs in regional final
By KEVIN DRULEY – kdruley@kcchronicle.com
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| Geneva's Lauren Wicinski drills through Batavia's block on Saturday during the Vikings' 4A Addison Trail Regional championship match win. (Jon Langham – For The Chronicle) |
ADDISON – Basketball season awaits Lauren Wicinski once the Geneva girls volleyball team closes its run in the IHSA Class 4A postseason.
On Saturday, the senior outside hitter got a leg up, mimicking the gliding and turning motion of a soft jump hook.
Wicinski mixed in surprise kills from the middle and back rows to augment her conventional slams at the net, handcuffing the Batavia defense with 15 kills as the Vikings rolled past their familiar foes for the Addison Trail Regional title, 25-19, 25-11.
Fine-tuning her repertoire against the Bulldogs was all part of what turned out to be a smooth plan.
"Batavia scouts us really well, and this is their third time playing us," Wicinski said. "They know what we do, so you had to switch it up with new shots and everything. That's what I tried to do the most."
Wicinski recorded kills on the first two points of the match in the usual way, vaulting her 6-foot-1 frame into the air on the front row before smacking the ball to the ground.
However subtle, Batavia (21-15-1) anticipated some sort of change in the Vikings' attack despite Geneva's earlier victories. The Bulldogs struggled just the same.
"Exactly what they did was exactly what we knew they were going to do," Batavia senior Katie Rueffer said. "We just didn't execute our game plan as well as we could have."
Geneva (35-2) advanced to the semifinals of its own sectional and will host Glenbard North Regional winner York at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Dogged by coach KC Johnsen for starting slowly in Thursday's regional semifinal sweep of Addison Trail, the Vikings benefited from facing their longtime rivals Saturday.
Next week, playing at home becomes the natural motivator.
Junior setter Brooke Morphis called that advantage "huge" and will enter the next round with the confidence of a 20-assist match against Batavia. Kelsey Augustine (six kills) and Katie Sommer (five) also contributed to the offense.
"It makes me feel good because my sets are getting points," Morphis said. "When I set, they just slam it down and it makes me feel happy because they're doing so well."
Rueffer collected 11 assists and four digs for Batavia, while Caitlin Piechota had six kills and six digs.
The Bulldogs tied Game 1, 10-10, on a Rueffer ace but could never take the lead. Short serves and a seasonlong struggle with serve-receive recurred in Game 2, which Geneva closed on a 22-8 run.
"Because we graduated eight seniors, everybody thinks we were so dominant last year," Batavia coach Lori Trippi-Payne said, "[But] we had one more win last year than we had this year. We finished 21-15-1. That's a hell of a record. Our team has played very well all year long. It's just unfortunate to end this way."
Geneva moves on after another win against the Bulldogs, though this time Wicinski and the Vikings did something different.
"I just have to practice to get these other shots down," Wicinski said. "We go through the reps so we can use them out here."
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