GHV volleyball sweeps West Hancock; falls to Forest City

It was a week of ups and downs for the Garner-Hayfield-Ventura volleyball team, as they dropped a hard fought match, but came back and won the next one.

Forest City 3, GHV 2

The Cardinals gave it their all on Tuesday, Aug. 30, before they fell in five games to Forest City.

GHV pulled out a tight win in the first game, 25-21.  The Indians battled hard in the second game and defeated the Cardinals, 25-14.  GHV fought to the end in the third game and squeaked out a 25-23 victory before dropping the final two, 25-11 and 15-7.

“Mentally, our focus in practice over the last two days has been attitude,” said Coach Kelsey Steffens.  “As a team we are putting our focus on the next point instead of the last point.”

Hannah Lau led the Cardinal team.  She  recorded six kills  and two blocks.  She also led the team in ace serves with four.  On defense she recorded 12 digs.

Mackenzie Van Gerpen led the team in digs with 16, while Carlie Knutson had 12 and Jackie Van Oort and Bailee Frayne had seven and six respectively.

Van Oort had the most kills for the Cardinals with eight.  Van Gerpen recorded six and Knutson had three.

Frayne led the team in assists with 15.

“Physically, we focused on more aggressive serving and we were able to get some free balls in return.  While huge improvements were made, the girls know that we can be better and they are eager to continue working.”

GHV 3, West Hancock 0

Enthusiasm and positive attitudes were what it took for the Cardinals to sweep West Hancock on Thursday, Sept. 1.

“It was a great night, as all three teams got a win,” said Coach Kelsey Steffens.  “The varsity team was able to keep the level of volleyball high throughout all three sets.”

The varsity team handled the Eagles with ease, defeating in them in three games with scores of 25-12, 25-12 and 25-6.

Mackenzie Van Gerpen and Hannah Lau led the team.  Lau recorded 11 kills and Van Gerpen had eight.  Van Gerpen led the team in digs with nine, while Lau contributed four.  Van Gerpen also had two ace serves.

Carlie Knutson also had a good night, with five kills, three digs and one ace serve.

Bailee Frayne had four ace serves and led the team in assists with 19.

The GHV volleyball teams host Bishop Garrigan on Thursday, Sept. 8, with the JJV and JV playing at 6 p.m. followed by the varsity.