State volleyball preview: Grundy Center ready for rubber match with Osage

GRUNDY CENTER – The Grundy Center volleyball team had an exhausting start to the weekend before the state tournament.

The girls celebrated with the Spartan football team after their victory against MFL MarMac on Friday night and then had to make the two-hour journey home and find a way to squeeze some sleep in for another long trip to West Delaware for a 10 a.m. Saturday scrimmage.

"We were going off a little bit of low sleep," Grundy Center senior Leslie Homeister said. "But that's probably what we'll have to deal with if we win this week, we had to learn how to go off low energy and not get mad at each other."

While it may have been a little overwhelming, it was a valuable experience to scrimmage fellow state qualifiers West Delaware, Union and Western Dubuque.

Grundy Center, seeded fifth, prepares for a Class 2A state quarterfinal with fourth-seed Osage at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids.

"We know how to beat ourselves in our own gym," Grundy Center head coach Lori Willis said. "It was good to see what other teams try to do against us, to see different swings and really aggressive serving. I'm glad we played against those teams and we were able to work on things that we wanted to work on against Osage."

The Spartans (32-8) and Green Devils (36-6) split a pair of tournament matches at a Waverly-Shell Rock tournament on Oct. 5, with both going the full three sets.

"It adds confidence in that we don't know who's going to win," Homeister said. "We know what they're going to do just as they know what we're going to do."

Danielle Johnson and Paige Kisley are Osage's primary attackers, hitting 4.30 kills and 3.90 kills per set, respectively.

The Green Devils lead the Class 2A tourney field in ace serves, averaging three per set. Osage also has the most efficient attack of the 2A qualifiers, landing 37.4 percent of their attacks for kills compared to 21.9 percent for the Spartans.

"We know the tendencies of some of the hitters and diggers," Grundy Center senior Emerson Kracht said. "We can read their side of the court a little better. … But we have to play our hearts out no matter who we're playing."

From the beginning of the season, Willis praised how girls have adapted to some lineup changes this season. Kyah Luhring went from libero to outside hitter, Jacque Kuester has come in as the second setter to supplement Kracht in the two-setter rotation and Frannie Brown took over for Luhring at libero. Abby Hamann has also embraced her expanded role as the team's leading attacker at 3.09 kills per set. Kracht has 2.81 kills and Luhring averages 2.23.

Having that familiar opponent will be good for measuring Grundy Center's growth in those areas in the last month, Willis said.

"We're excited to play that rubber match because we have improved so much and we know a lot from each other," she added. "We've seen each other's players a lot, whether it's in high school ball or club ball. I'm sure they're throwing in different plays just like we are and it'll keep it different and surprising, and we'll be ready for that as well."

The Spartans have also gotten increased production from their middle hitters in recent weeks, with sophomore Lainy Thoren and Homeister, a senior, taking steps forward to make Grundy Center a complete team.

Homeister leads the team with 69 total blocks. Thoren checks in at 2nd on the team with 57.

"They're enjoying their new roles and are coachable in their new roles," Willis said. "They've done a good job in the last two weeks of saying and believing that they can do it. The light bulbs are going off.

"Kyah's learned how to become a better hitter, Jacque's choices in setting are so much better, Frannie is reading the ball better and Abby's finding more confidence. Our middles are coming around after hardly being a presence at the beginning of the year. Now teams have to honor that."

Last Tuesday's emotional regional final victory against Underwood shook the heartbreak of last season's defeat against Wilton that left the top-ranked Spartans on the outside of the state tournament field looking in.

"A little bit of pressure is off now that we've made it, but we still want to keep going," Kracht said.

Osage is seeking a deeper run after back-to-back state semifinal appearances. The Green Devils also had to make some lineup changes, with Ellie Bobinet taking the starting setting role from Rylie Olson and freshman libero Jaden Francis stepping in to lead the team in digs at 2.84 per set.

The Green Devils haven't entirely replaced the blocking efficiency of Sydney Midlang and Olson, but carry plenty of experience into Wednesday's match with an equally-seasoned Spartans team.        

"They play pretty smart," Frannie Brown said. "You have to know where to set up [digs] and where to go, know where to place yourself and read their arms. … Going back and watching film against them, you can see where your weaknesses and strengths are and build on both of those to do whatever you can to win."

The Spartans hope to kick off what should be an eventful week for Grundy Center athletics. A state tournament appearance for the volleyball team, combined with Grundy Center football's first UNI-Dome appearance in 31 years and recent state trips for the Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck cross country team has created an atmosphere of success for the Spartan student-athletes.

"We can keep pushing each other to be the best," Brown said. "This is our seniors last go-around, we just have to give it all we have and play for each other."

Verly, Kracht and Luhring will be returning to the U.S. Cellular Center floor where they saw playing time as sophomores in Grundy Center's state semifinal run in 2017. For the rest of the usual Spartan rotation, it'll be a mostly new experience at courtside.

Willis doesn't think Grundy Center will get lost in the lights.

"It's just another game, the scoreboard turns on like any other and the court's the exact same size," Willis said. "We want to make sure the pressure is on [Osage] so we can go out and have fun and embrace how much this community is lit up right now.

"This is just another game you get to play with your best friends."