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WHEATON – You couldn’t blame Geneva setter Eric Scherer for showing a little excitement after a big block on Wheaton Warrenville South star Simon Bratt Tuesday night. After all, Bratt is one of the top outside hitters around.
Unfortunately for Scherer and his Vikings teammates, the impressive block in the second game of the DuKane Conference opener was one of just a few highlights against the Bratt-led Tigers, who improved to 4-1 on the year with a solid 25-13, 25-18 victory in Wheaton.
Bratt, who finished with 16 kills and a pair of aces, was just too tough as the Tigers looked to avenge a regional loss last season to Geneva. Bratt closed out the opener with a ferocious attack through the Vikings block and then ended the match with a backrow attack winner in Game 2. In between, he served well, was a dominant force on the left side and just proved too tough for a young Geneva squad.
“They got Simon Bratt. That right there tells you,” Geneva coach Stephanie Henning said, summing up the match after her team dropped to 4-4, 0-1. “They’re very, very skilled and we have a lot of newcomers. Even though we lost in two we showed some good signs out there tonight.”
The Tigers, whose lone setback so far was a 3-game loss to Lyons Township, showed all kinds of good signs Tuesday. In addition to Bratt’s big game, setter Mark Gheorghita had 22 assists and 3 aces, and Nate Paige led the defense with 12 digs.
The Vikings actually led in Game 1 by a score of 10-9 before the hosts closed out the game with a 16-3 run in which Bratt was unstoppable and his teammates looked sharp in their first game after spring break.
“It was a lot of fun and we’re getting tighter as a team,” said Bratt, a 6-foot-3 junior. “I’m looking forward to what we can do in the future.”
Gheorghita battles his teammate Bratt on a regular basis in club volleyball and he knows it helps them become better players and helps the Tigers.
“This game was a good revenge tour for us,” the setter said, reflecting on last season’s playoff loss to the Vikings “Overall we played pretty well but we needed to be cleaner on some things in the last game.”
Whenever the Tigers needed a point or a timely side out on Tuesday, Gheorghita seemed to find Bratt for a thunderous kill.
“Me and Simon are on the same club [different teams] and we play against each other every day,” he said. “We do a lot of work outside the high school season.”
For Geneva, Ian Sofiak led the way with 5 kills and Joey Swanson added 3 kills. To the Vikings’ credit, they hung tough down the stretch, falling behind 20-10 before closing to within 23-17.