Girls Volleyball: Mary Cate McCormick continues to show growth for Geneva

GENEVA - Mary Cate McCormick knows she gets challenged by her teammates. It’s simply because how strongly they can play.

McCormick, a Geneva senior outside hitter, seems to rise to the occasion just fine.

“My teammates have helped me a lot with the growth in my offense,” McCormick said following Geneva’s 25-23, 25-15 loss to Crystal Lake Central on Wednesday.

Anna Loberg, who just passed 1,000 career assists on Tuesday, has played a nice role in providing the ball to McCormick to strike kills.

“Anna is a new setter for me,” said McCormick, who had eight kills and seven digs Wednesday. “We’ve really worked on our connection and I think we just keep getting better and better.”

McCormick, who normally plays on the right side, is getting shuffled around a bit. With Cassidy Brown nursing an injury, McCormick is still coming through with positive results.

“It’s nice to see that production continuing,” Geneva coach Annie Seitelman said.

Crystal Lake (21-1), whose win Wednesday was its 11th straight, is cruising through the regular season.

The combination of varsity experience and length are proving to be a reliable combination.

“Our girls have been playing together for a long time,” Crystal Lake coach Lisa Brunstrum said. “We’ve got a really nice group of senior leaders...we’ve got six seniors that are with us this year.”

“They really keep us motivated and on our toes,” Brunstrum continued. “They keep the underclassmen held to some high expectations.”

Both teams traded slight leads in the first set, bu it was CLC who was able to limit the attack errors down the stretch. CLC built a 19-16 advantage, but McCormick kept Geneva close with two kills to pull within one at 20-19.

A Camryn Hausler kill and Geneva attack error expanded the lead to 22-19, and eventually CLC went ahead 24-21. Kills by Geneva’s Devynn Day put Geneva within 24-23, but a final kill by CLC’s McKenna Timmerman put the set away.

Geneva kept it close in the second set, trailing 13-12 midway through. From there, though, CLC went on a 7-2 run to go ahead 20-14, thanks to a combination of Geneva attacking errors and contributions from Olivia Anderson, Madelyn Blake and Madeline McCormick.

CLC put the Vikings away with an ace from Grace Levin, and a final Geneva attack error.

CLC was led by McCormick’s five kills and 16 digs. Hausler had five blocks, four kills, seven digs and nine assists. Anderson had six blocks and five kills.

Day had eight kills for Geneva (13-6). Loberg had 16 assists and 12 digs. Loyola recruit Grace Hinchman was busy with 24 digs.

“It’s nice to see teams like [CLC]. [It’s] kind of a good measuring stick to see where we’re at,” Seitelman said. “We had some lulls throughout the game, that I think we’re better than what we showed. Even then, it was a competitive match.”