The #12 (2A) Grundy Center volleyball team, with timely scoring runs, won 3-1 over AGWSR in an NICL-West match on Tuesday, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ. The Spartans won set 1, 25-23, AGWSR took set 2, 25-22 and the Spartans won the final two sets 25-19 and 26-24.
In Set 1, the largest lead was three held by Grundy Center, and the Spartans held on late to win the set by two. Set 2 was another point for point set, after being tied at 21-21 AGWSR gained the advantage with a 3-0 run to close out the set. In Set 3, Grundy Center took a 14-10 lead and never looked back to move ahead 2-1 in the match. Set 4 featured seven ties; AGWSR held a 23-19 lead trying to force a decisive fifth set, but Grundy Center answered with a 7-1 scoring run to win the set and lock down the match in bonus points.
Grundy Center Head Coach Lori Willis on learning from tightly contested matches.
“We are in battles and you know, I would like to see us create a little bit of a margin,” Willis says. “But we struggled a little with the block and also they were still pretty aggressive. We passed pretty decent, but then there’s moments where we didn’t and that’s when we struggled. When you’re in tight matches, you learn a lot. You learn a lot about yourselves. You learn how you respond and you learn how to really manage the game. And it’s really important for us to come out with these tight sets because that’s just going to give us confidence so that when we find ourselves in battles like this, that we know that we can finish the deal.”
AGWSR Head Coach Jill Smith on staying disciplined in big moments.
“We talked afterwards about using this match to grow and to get better,” Smith says. “I thought, especially after that first set, we did a good job of working to make adjustments. We have to really make sure that we’re staying disciplined in what we’re doing and play to win. I felt like at the end of that fourth set there, we kind of started playing not to lose for the last few points there. And we need to figure out how to stay aggressive and finish.”
Grundy Center was led by the trio Ryanne Brubaker and Kayden Muller with 12 kills, and Paige Venega added 11. AGWSR received double digit kills from Tori Metzgar with 13 and Elise Olson with 10.
Grundy Center (6-3, 1-1 NICL-West) and AGWSR (5-6, 1-1 NICL West) will both return to action at the Aplington-Parkersburg tournament on Saturday.
