Girls Volleyball Player of the Year: ‘She handled it with such grace’ Anna Loberg left her own legacy at Geneva

Anna Loberg remembers peppering a volleyball around with her parents or younger brother after her older sister, Grace, had a match.

“I just felt like it was so fun to watch,” said Anna Loberg, Geneva’s senior setter. “I knew I wanted to play volleyball ... just watching her. She loved it, and she would just play [it] with me. So I knew that was going to be the sport I wanted to play.”

Grace Loberg was a superstar at Geneva. She was a three-time Kane County Chronicle Female Athlete of the Year recipient and earned all-conference and all-area honors all four varsity seasons. Grace Loberg is now an All-American as a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“She’s been so supportive, especially during [my] recruiting process by reassuring me that she [knew] it’s going to work out and everything will happen for a reason,” said Anna Loberg, who will play in college at South Alabama. “I love watching her play. ... It’s so great that I have such a close relationship with her and have someone that’s so into volleyball like I am to talk about things. She definitely is a huge role model in my life.”

Anna Loberg has sparkled in her own right.

Anna Loberg, the reigning DuKane Conference Player of the Year, led the Vikings to a DuKane Conference championship this spring with a 13-1 record. Geneva was 15-1 overall. Loberg dominated with 307 assists, 72 digs, 44 kills and 20 aces for the Vikings.

To commemorate her accomplishments, Anna Loberg is the 2021 Kane County Chronicle Volleyball Player of the Year.

“She’s just an awesome kid. I just have to say that. She’s a fantastic volleyball player, but she’s also just a really great person,” Geneva coach Annie Seitelman said. “I think, too, with the legacy that her sister left, I feel like that would be a hard thing to follow.

“I think she handled it with such grace – no pun intended,” Seitelman said, laughing. “She just embraced it. Honestly, I feel like it helped that she wasn’t necessarily the same position. It wasn’t comparable in that regard.”

As a freshman, Loberg entered matches to earn reps and absorbed “everything she could.”

“Learning the game and just trying to make herself and her teammates better,” Seitelman said. “That’s something that really speaks volumes of her, too, is her work ethic. Adversity aside of all this pandemic, she’s in the gym. ... There’s really no off time for that kid. It’s not coach mandated. She’s getting in there because she truly wants to be the best that she can be.”

This season, in particular, helped prove it.

“Every day, we came into practice knowing [we needed to] work hard. Anything could happen. We could be shut down for two weeks or our season could be canceled,” Loberg said. “I think just having the mentality of this could be our last practice, this could be our last game, let’s go out and fight [was prominent].”

In a four-year career, Loberg will leave the program with 1,668 assists, 608 digs, 129 aces and 119 kills.

“I think [volleyball] helped me be a mentally stronger person,” Loberg said. “I think there’s definitely things you have to battle. There’s going to be adversity to overcome, but I think [what will impact me the most is] the friendships I made. ... The teammates I had are great. The team sport is just so awesome because you make so many friends that are going to be with you forever.

“When I get on the court, I just love it playing with those people. Playing the game I love.”