Geneva continued building momentum for the postseason with a 3-0 win over visiting Orange on Thursday.
The Eagles won the match 25-16, 25-22, 25-16 to improve to 15-5 on the year and 10-2 in the Chagrin Valley Conference Chagrin Division.
“I thought it was a solid win,” said Geneva coach Annah Haeseler. “Orange played scrappy and put up solid double blocks everywhere. We kept at it though and really finished in some long rallies.”
Morgan Stoltz was key to keeping the ball off the floor. She finished with 14 digs, seven points and an assist. Jordan Vencill also played an integral role with 15 kills, nine points, four service aces and three digs.
“Morgan played great and never let a ball fall,” Haeseler said. “Some of those rallies were marathons and I thought we played smart to win some of those long ones. We played clean and smart. Jordan Vencill really stepped up in set three to take the match.”
Becca Quirk finished with 12 points, 13 assists, two aces and four digs, Hope Stanley contributed with seven points, two kills and an assist and Chrissy Oros finished with 10 assists, five points and a kill. Myla Rhodes pitched in with eight kills.
The win was the fifth straight for the Eagles.
“We are playing pretty tough right now; smooth, clean and our communication is on,” Haeseler said. “We take one match at a time and focus on what’s happening on our side of the court. We are looking forward to playing Chagrin next week. Once we finish the regular season though, it is tourney time–time to focus on winning one match to reach our goals. We have always had a tough tournament with NDCL, Lake Catholic and VASJ but we want to play them. We want to complete. It is a challenge and we are up for it.”
The Eagles will honor senior Kelli Rooney during Monday’s game against Harvey.
“We just want to celebrate her and her accomplishments,” Haeseler said. “She is a great young lady, honor student, a leader on the court, hardworking and kind. We play Harvey at home and invite everyone to come out and support our senior.”
Senior Haley Shedden led Orange with 17 assists, senior Maria Burdjalov finished with 13 kills and seven digs and Caitlin Breedlove recorded four blocks in the loss.
“As always, I am proud of our girls,” said Orange coach Jen Gold. “Even though the score was not in our favor, we made some good plays tonight. We needed to move our feet more and have better serve receive, but they had some good rallies tonight.”