Fiery St. Charles North volleyball sweeps Geneva in River clash

GENEVA – A succinct credo steered the St. Charles North girls volleyball team to a surprisingly breezy sweep of Geneva on Tuesday.

“Our main goal today was to play with a passion, because we feel like that’s what we do best,” North stars senior right side/setter Jaclyn Taylor said. “So I think we just came out here from point one playing with that passion and playing together as a team.”

Actually, Geneva seized early control in this meeting of Upstate Eight Conference River Division powers, but a three-point deficit proved to be of little consequence as the North Stars avenged their lone loss of the season to date.

Although her assistant and former player, Katie Fuerst, insists otherwise, seventh-year North coach Lindsey Hawkins believes her team’s 25-11, 25-13 victory was the program’s first against the Vikings in her tenure.

“I think it means a lot to the program,” North junior middle Anna DuVall said. “It means a lot of hard work and dedication that we put into every day of practice, and it just pays off on the court.”

North (8-1, 3-0 UEC River) met Geneva (8-1, 2-1) for the Plainfield North Invitational title on Aug. 29, and there was more that differed about the rematch than remained the same.

To start, Geneva earned a 25-20, 25-22 sweep that day, deepening the North Stars’ tentative play with match-long intensity.

The Vikings’ 3-0 opening set lead on Tuesday notwithstanding, those roles were reversed from the start this time.

“Just couldn’t execute. Didn’t show up and play our best game, which is difficult,” Geneva coach Annie Seitelman said. “But you’re playing a team as competitive and talented as North. Every team is going to have that off night, and unfortunately, tonight was ours.”

Although the Vikings won the tournament match without her services, the team again was without Wisconsin-bound junior outside hitter Grace Loberg at full strength.

Loberg, who is in the final stages of battling mono, charted more statistics than she contributed, it turned out. Still “day-by-day,” in Seitelman’s words, Loberg entered the match with Geneva trailing, 15-8, in the second set.

She smacked her lone kill two points later to draw the Vikings to within 16-9, but North’s nimble wall of blockers answered after that.

“We’re trying to keep it pretty even with every match, but there was definitely more intensity with this match,” Taylor said.

No disagreement from Seitelman.

“They were definitely gunning for us,” she said. “You could tell that from the way they came out.”

Lauren Caprini served consecutive aces during the North Stars’ 8-0 run in the first set. Gianna Crescenzo added two aces, as well.

Taylor had 11 assists, while Claire Anderson and Daley Krage both smacked four kills.

Geneva’s attack featured Ally Barrett and Kyley Thompson, but as Seitelman said, the team’s overall effort was “a little too tentative.”

As a result, she corralled the Vikings for a longer postgame meeting than usual.

The North Stars, meantime, met briefly before greeting their families and fans.

“We’ve been talking a lot about stepping on the court with a tenacity and confidence and not letting anybody really show you up or intimidate you,” Hawkins said.

Mission accomplished.