Benet finishes off Geneva

Updated: April 25, 2011 6:22AM

Sawyer Yeazel spent an unusually long time at the volleyball service line on Thursday.

The Benet sophomore outside hitter served for 18 points in only three service rotations, including a 12-point Game 2 run that finished off the visitors and first-year program Geneva 25-11, 25-7.

"I just did what I had to do to close the game with a lot of help from my teammates," said Yeazel.

For the Vikings, who are playing in only their sixth competitive volleyball contest (they're 0-6), the match against Benet was another point on a learning curve, in this Geneva inaugural season.

"They did pretty well considering they not as experienced as us," said Yeazel. whose strong serving included three aces, two in that streak that brought the Redwings (15-5) from a 12-6 lead to 24-6.

Vikings coach K.C. Johnsen was pleased with his team's effort and said they've made a lot of progress this season.

"We're playing for points," Johnsen said. "We really have to play the next ball. We blocked a few good swings, hit a few good balls. We have to understand that we're playing against guys who are much more polished, and we can't get discouraged. We have some pretty good athletes. I think we're going to get it."

While the Redwings built big leads early in both games, it was a challenge for them to maintain their concentration and continue to work on the aspects of the game that are so important to the team's consistency as they build for the postseason.

"Our communications is getting better and that was evident tonight." said Kevin Weithers, a middle blocker who's a member of the Redwings deep and talented junior class. "And we kept our passing and our serving strong all night."

Benet coach Amy Van Eekeren was pleased that she was able to get ample playing time for the entire squad and impressed that the Redwings kept their errors to a minimum.

"We maintained a consistent level in both games," Van Eekeren said. "We learned to keep talking and playing as a unit. And we used the match as an opportunity to run different plays."

She credited Geneva for its aggressive play.

"The Geneva boys are athletic and they came out and played hard," she said. "I'm sure they'll improve at a fast rate."

Luke Ladowski and Yeazel led the Redwngs with four kills each, followed by Bobby Wehrli and Weithers, who both had three. Yeazel was also the dig-leader with three.

Geneva's Nick Caruso had a match-high six kills and Mason Stierwalt came up with five digs.

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