Milestones abound for Spartan volleyball on Saturday

CEDAR FALLS – The Grundy Center volleyball team celebrated several milestones at Saturday’s Tiger Invite in Cedar Falls at the University of Northern Iowa’s Wellness & Recreation Center.

Carlie Willis and Ellery Luhring surpassed milestones of 500 kills and 1,000 assists, respectively. Spartan head coach Lori Willis also passed the 200-win milestone for her coaching career.

For Lori Willis, her personal milestone was even sweeter as it coincided with the Spartans' three-set triumph over 2A No. 10 Osage, 22-20, 19-21, 15-11.

"There were a couple of losses we had that day that we could have done better and gotten [the 200th win] sooner," Willis said. "But I feel like it was in God's plan that it had to be Osage, because we took a huge leap forward and we just played super aggressive, super high energy, and had super confidence, and what coach doesn't want that for their team."

Shirley Monaghan had 10 kills in the big win, with Carlie Willis adding seven kills and Lainy Thoren contributing 11 digs and two ace serves.

Grundy finished 3-2 on the day, with wins against Cedar Rapids Washington, Waterloo West and the Green Devils. The Spartans fell in straight sets to 3A No. 1 West Delaware and 5A No. 9 Cedar Falls.