Byron exploits G-K's weakness

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BYRON – Genoa-Kingston didn’t exactly end its season the way that it wanted to.

The fifth-seeded G-K volleyball team was able to hang with fourth-seeded Byron at the outset of the first game in the opening round of the Class 2A Byron Regional, but the Cogs weren’t able to handle the Tigers’ serve receive as Byron went on a number of big runs in a 25-13, 25-10 sweep.

“Besides serve receive tonight, they really did play really well,” G-K interim coach Tricia Graves said. “[Byron] is a good serving team, they’re an aggressive serving team. That’s something that we struggle with but it’s something that our girls work very hard on in practice.”

Graves was coaching in place of Tiffany Sitarz. G-K found out it had violated an IHSA rule Tuesday and turned itself in on Wednesday. Athletic director Dirk Campbell said the IHSA mandated that Sitarz sit out the duration of the regional.

With first game tied at 6, Byron was able build a big lead with the help of a 10-1 run. The Cogs used a 6-1 advantage to rally, but the Tigers finished them off thanks to an 8-1 run to close out Game 1.

Byron started Game 2 just as it finished Game 1, getting off to an 11-2 start that the Cogs never were able to recover from. G-K was able to go on a 6-2 run later in the game but that wasn’t enough.

“Serve receive killed us,” G-K middle blocker Jessica Wojdyla said. “I think we just weren’t focused enough to pass it up and put it down.”

Graves was impressed with the play of Wojdyla and middle blocker Erin Stojan.

“Our two middles, Jessica Wojdyla and Erin Stojan, they got a lot of hands up on balls,” Graves said. “That’s the reason we came back a little bit in that second game is because Erin up there in the front row, she got a lot of blocks and she got some good kills there.”

Even with the loss, Wojdyla says she thinks the Cogs have a chance to field a solid team in 2010, as G-K loses only four seniors in Laura Volkening, Kiley Vanda, Danielle Ellstrom and Katrine Capek.

“I think next year we’re going to do a lot better,” Wojdyla said. “Hopefully we can pull it together.”

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