GHV volleyball team battles to a victory over Hampton-Dumont

It was a fight from beginning to the end when the Garner-Hayfield/Ventura volleyball team took on Hampton- Dumont on Thursday, Oct. 23, at Hampton.

“Thursday’s match was an opportunity to play volleyball when things weren’t clicking on our side,” said Coach Kelsey Steffens.  “Their aggressive serves and scrappy defense kept us from running a controlled offense.”

The first match was a battle, with the Cardinals capturing the two point victory, 27-25.  The second was also a close one, but GHV again prevailed, 25-22.  The close matches continued, but the Bulldogs pulled off 26-24 and 25-23 wins.  The Cardinals powered through the fifth match for a 15-10 victory to win the night with a 3-2 record.

“The girls have confidence finishing a match,” said Steffens.  “One part of the our game that we can improve upon is our start.”

Leading the team at the net was Mackenzie Van Gerpen with 19 kills.  Hannah Lau and Grace Tusha also had strong nights with 15 and 10 kills respectively.  Emily Spilman added five kills and Sydney Younge contributed four.

Younge led the night in assists and digs, with 42 assists and 10 digs.  

Other defensive leaders included Van Gerpen with nine digs. Carlie Knutson had six digs and Tjaden Kramer had five.  Mallory Van Oort and Spilman had four digs apiece.

Stacy Hackenmiller and Knutson led the team at the service line.  Hackenmiller had 14 points on serve for the night and one ace.  Knutson contributed 13 points and two ace serves.  Spilman and Younge each had nine points on serve and they each had two ace serves.  Van Gerpen and Van Oort each had six points on serve. Van Gerpen had two ace serves and Van Oort contributed one.

The team began District action on Monday, Oct. 27.  Results of that match will appear in next week’s edition of the Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter.