Waubonsie Valley rolls over Geneva

Updated: October 6, 2011 7:36PM

They may have started slow, but once they got going there was no stopping the Waubonsie Valley volleyball team.

Paced by a 12-kill, two-block night by senior outside hitter Lisa Studnicka, the Warriors rolled past Geneva 25-21, 25-13 Thursday in an Upstate Eight Conference crossover match.

“We’ve been playing teams with lot slower offenses and this was the first one in awhile to use speed. They placed the ball in good spots and we weren’t used to defending that,” said Studnicka of her team’s 6-1 deficit to open the first set.

That’s when Warrior coach Kristen Stuart called a timeout.

“They surprised us in the beginning,” she said. “They came out fast and we came out slow.”

So what did she say?

“I think I asked, ‘What are you doing?’” Stuart continued. “We were blocking like idiots and we needed to fix our block.”

They did, and out-scored the hosts 24-13 the rest of the way. They were sparked by Brittany Rampersad, who had three of the Warriors’ six block-for-kills in the opening set. She would finish with four blocks and three kills.

The second set was a reversal of the first, except the host Vikings weren’t able to come up with the strong finishing kick. Waubonsie Valley, sparked by five of Studnicka’s kills, jumped to an early 7-3 lead and Geneva could only get that close twice more.

“I think our aggressive serving took them out of system,” said Stuart.

Sophomore Rachel Minarick had four kills and 15 assists for 16-10 Waubonsie, which got 11 digs from libero Lauren Clarke.

“I think they came in a played a nice, strong match,” said Geneva coach KC Johnsen. “We were hot early, then terribly cold. They’re too good a team to play them like that. We did not get anything going. We weren’t passing well. We weren’t blocking well and we weren’t serving particularly well. (Stuart) was right. We were never in system.”

The Vikings, who had wins earlier this week against arch-rival Batavia and a strong Kaneland team, now face the prospect of five more matches in two days at the St. Charles East-hosted Mizuno Classic at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora.

Jess Wicinski led Geneva, which drops to 15-6, with five kills. Melissa Hanika and Hannah Buck added four each. Ashleigh Shain had 16 digs and Stephanie Earl 11 assists.

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