Geneva's defense trips up DeKalb

Geneva might have been apprehensive entering Thursday's non-conference road match against a highly regarded and much taller DeKalb squad, but didn't let it show out on the court.

Thanks to a sparkling defensive display and some timely hitting, the Vikings enjoyed a jubilant bus ride home after securing an impressive 25-23, 25-23 victory over their former Western Sun Conference rivals.

"I usually don't get jitters before games, but I was shaking tonight because I know that they're so good," said Vikings senior setter Brooke Morphis, who handed out 13 assists.

"DeKalb has some tremendous players and we were anticipating having to do something special on defense," said Geneva coach K.C. Johnsen. "Our girls just responded really well to the things they had to do to win."

The Vikings (10-2) only recorded 14 kills in the match, but generated offense at the most opportune times.

Leading 20-18 in Game 2, Morphis connected with Ashley Boser on a perfectly timed slide to beat the defense.

"Slides are not my best set," Morphis admitted. "I was praying I would make that set and that Ashley or somebody would hit it and I guess it happened."

Brooke Binette pushed the lead to 23-20 with one of her team-high 7 kills and sophomore Taylor Otto closed out the match with a fantastic block on Barbs' dynamic outside hitter Emily Bemis.

"Our goal was to touch balls at the net and slow them down, but Taylor got up and got a pretty important block against a big-time hitter," Johnsen said.

DeKalb (8-3) seemed poised to take the first game after gaining a 21-19 advantage on the heels of a four-point run.

The Vikings answered with a 5-point spurt on Riley Sullivan's serve that included two perfectly placed tips and a left-side blast for another kill from Binette.

A DeKalb service error, one of 10 in the match, gave Geneva the win.

"We really tried to see where they were at and go around the block," Binette said. "Our serve receive was really solid and set us up for a good kill at the finish."

Sullivan and Ashleigh Shain spearheaded Geneva's defensive effort with 8 digs each.

The Barbs outhit Geneva with 25 kills in the match, but hurt themselves with nine net violations and numerous hitting errors.

"We didn't execute as well as we normally do, but Geneva is a very good team and they were scrappy," said DeKalb coach Stephanie Gooden.