BCLUW volleyball comeback upends Grundy

Published by editor on Wed, 09/29/2021 - 12:00am

By:

Jake Ryder

sports@grundyregister.com

CONRAD - The BCLUW volleyball team completed a stunning comeback to defeat Grundy Center in five sets at BCLUW High School.

BCLUW won 21-25, 11-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-11 to defeat the Spartans, at the time ranked 12th in Class 2A -- Grundy has since dropped from the rankings. The Comets had not defeated the Spartans in NICL West play since 1998 -- BCLUW ended a similarly-long streak of losses to the Spartans in a three-set tournament victory last August.

Abby Stephenson, the first-year head coach for the Comets, credited assistant coach Megan Yantis with the suggestion to move Eden Wilson to the right side after the home team fell behind 2-0.

"That changed the dynamic a lot," Stephenson said. "And it was just our way of adjusting to it all. We were able to stay steady, started executing with all of our hitters across our hitters."

Wilson finished with a team-leading 13 kills and added 13 digs. Allison Engle had 11 kills, 19 assists and 17 digs.

"We have a lot of individual performances offensively and defensively, that when we can do our job at a high level, our collective unit is so much stronger," Stephenson said. "I've been impressed with our execution and our composure to get through it all even-keeled, because it's so easy to get emotional out there, but we were locked in for a lot of it."

BCLUW defeated East Marshall in straight sets on Tuesday, Sept. 28 to finish in a three-way tie for second in the NICL West along with Grundy Center and Gladbrook-Reinbeck, all at 3-2 in the round robin. BCLUW is 12-10 overall.

The Comets will play at Wapsie Valley next Tuesday in the first round of the first-ever NICL volleyball tournament against Class 2A's second-ranked Denver. The winner faces either Wapsie Valley or AGWSR in the second round later that night.

"We're super excited for this great competition," Stephenson said. "With our improvements that we've made from the beginning of the season, I'm looking forward to some great volleyball and seeing what the girls can pull off."