ROCHELLE — The Lady Hubs varsity volleyball team looked to generate some Senior Night magic when the Rochelle girls faced Geneseo on Tuesday for the team’s final home match of the regular season.

Rochelle stretched its first match with the Lady Leafs to three sets earlier this year, and it appeared that Tuesday night’s conference battle would be more of the same, with Geneseo edging the Lady Hubs by two points in the first set. But Rochelle was unable to carry its energy into the second set, and the Lady Leafs emerged victorious by a final score of 25-23, 25-18.

“It worked out that we had enough seniors and we had them at the right positions,” said head coach John Pfaff, who started six seniors for Tuesday night’s match. “They did pretty well. Each one of them contributed in her own way, and it turned out to be a pretty close match.”

Rochelle (7-24-2, 0-8 NIB-12 West) and Geneseo played neck-and-neck throughout the first set. The Lady Leafs never led by more than three points, and despite playing from behind, the Lady Hubs remained within striking distance, rallying behind their seniors including Kendra DeLaTorre, Jacie Wyatt, Allysa Harding and Alexis Crawford. Senior Morgan Knight did not play due to injury, but she was introduced as a starter alongside her senior teammates.

Pfaff said he was also impressed with the play of seniors Faith Roush and Emma Valentine, who each recorded one kill on Tuesday while Valentine added one dig and one block.

“It was good to get Faith and Emma in there,” he said. “They both work really hard in practice. We’re probably as deep as we’ve been for a long time, and throughout practice you’re competing against other people for spots, but they still go out there and play… Emma had a nice kill and set up a couple of good blocks. Faith had a couple of nice passes and swings as well.”

While the Lady Hubs exerted plenty of energy in the first set, they were unable to keep the Lady Leafs at bay in the second set. Geneseo took an 8-1 lead, and combined with five service errors, the Lady Hubs were unable to dig themselves out of an early hole, a theme that has been constant for the Rochelle girls this season.

“If I could put my finger on it, we’d solve it,” Pfaff said. “We kept the same rotation in the second set but we couldn’t get the same results… The lineup we’re looking at for the regional might not be the one we put out there tonight, but maybe the seniors can try and bring their energy and help the other girls play at their best.”

Rochelle earned the No. 9 seed in the IHSA Class 3A Regional at Sycamore High School, and the Lady Hubs will begin their postseason journey against No. 7 seed Wheaton Academy in the quarterfinals on Monday, Oct. 23.