Semmelhack, York end Geneva’s season

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Geneva’s Katie Sommer (14) and Lauren Wicinski (10) go after the block during the IHSA Class 4A Geneva Sectional semifinal Tuesday night against York. Geneva lost the match 19-25, 25-16, 25-16. Sandy Bressner – sbressner@kcchronicle.com

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GENEVA – Sometimes it was the tandem of Claire Grabinski and Morgan Semmelhack challenging Geneva hitters. Others, Lauren Zerante and Glynis Albue took the job.

After falling to the Vikings in the opening game of an IHSA Class 4A Geneva Sectional semifinal Tuesday, all York could think to do was rotate its blockers and schemes. The strategy worked almost seamlessly as the Vikings saw the Dukes end their season for a third successive time, losing, 19-25, 25-16, 25-16.

“York blocked us a little bit better than we were used to being blocked,” Geneva coach K.C. Johnsen said, “and we weren’t covering well.”

Geneva senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski smacked a match-high 18 kills, a statistic alone that made Johnsen leery to think the third-seeded Dukes (28-8) neutralized her.

Still, Wicinski was limited to nine kills over the last two games as Semmelhack, a sophomore who collected five blocks, primarily drew the assignment of shadowing her.

“When coach [Patty Iverson] made the change, I was like, ‘I want to block [Wicinski], I want to shut her down,’ ” Semmelhack said.

More than at any other time during the season, No. 2 Geneva (35-3) inflicted damage on itself. Serve-receive, a pride point throughout the season and the subject of a popular team drill, lapsed as the Dukes raced to early leads in Games 2 and 3.

Wicinski (15 digs) and Grace Burns (11) distributed the ball to setter Brooke Morphis (34 assists), but passes weren’t always as crisp as spot-on, something the Vikings had come to expect from themselves.

“All year, we’ve been serve-receiving really well,” Johnsen said. “This was about the only time all year [we struggled]. We weren’t horrible, we just weren’t as good as we’ve been.”

Geneva had only lost to traditional power Joliet Catholic and Muskego, a Wisconsin team, this season before running into the Dukes, who advanced to face St. Charles East for the sectional title at 7 p.m. Thursday.

York senior outside hitter Lauren Zerante, who had been battling a foot injury down the stretch of the regular season, led the team with 13 kills. The Bradley signee was part of the Dukes team that swept the Vikings, 26-24, 25-21, during last year’s sectional semifinals in Elmhurst, along with several other teammates.

“We knew Geneva would be itching to get revenge and get back at us,” Semmelhack said. “We had to come out and shut them down so that wouldn’t happen.”

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