Genoa-Kingston continues dominance, powers past Sycamore

SYCAMORE – The Genoa-Kingston Cogs continued their dominance with a 25-18, 25-10 victory over the Sycamore Spartans on Monday.

The match started out tense with both teams trading blows in the first set. Laci Neese opened the scoring with a big kill for the Spartans. On the very next point, Alayna Pierce hit back with a thundering shot of her own.

“That group of kids that are returning from last season are competitors,” Genoa-Kingston coach Kevin Foster said. “There’s not a time where they don’t take offense if somebody scores a point on them. It’s a problem for them, and they always have to come back and show them that they have what it takes to stay on top.”

There were no easy points in the early going. The Spartans and Cogs went big shot after big shot with 10 of the first 15 points coming on a kill or a block. Neither team led by more than two points until the Cogs broke open the set with an 8-0 run.

With the Cogs (2-0) up 8-7 early in the first set, Alivia Keegan smashed a point with Pierce following with another big hit on the next point. Mia Wise added an ace for the next point and the run was on. Wise added another ace and Pierce another kill before the run was over with the Cogs leading 16-7.

“We know that at some point we have to get going and get on a run,” Pierce said. “When everyone is starting to get kills and hitting good then it brings momentum and we all get hyped.”

Pierce led the Cogs with eight kills to go along with two blocks and an ace.

The Spartans (0-1) responded after a timeout with a 7-2 run to cut the lead to 18-14 behind a pair of aces by Neece.

“Our serving was really good in the first set and we were able to run our offense,” Neece said. “We just have to limit our errors. They’re a team that doesn’t make a lot of errors.”

Neece had four kills and two aces in the match.

That’s as close as the Spartans got as the Cogs’ closed out the set with a 7-4 advantage.

The second set was all Cogs. The visitors jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Neece scored the first point for the Spartans.

“It was hard to watch, but I did see glimpses of good things from individual players,” Sycamore coach Jennifer Charles said. “I take away that we’re right where I feel like we need to be as far as our offense.”

The Cogs kept the pressure on by firing hit after hit to keep the Spartans out of any offensive rhythm. The Spartans never managed to string together more than two points in a row in the entire second set.

For the Spartans, it was their first match of the year after having their first two matches rescheduled because of heat last week.