Spartans repeat as NICL West champs with dominate display over Mustangs

LE GRAND - When Grundy Center volleyball saw its 13 year old NICL West title streak broken in 2021 to South Hardin, the Spartans vowed to start a new one next season. 

“It was definitely a feeling of defeat for a little bit,” senior Lucy Lebo, a sophomore defensive specialist that 2021 season, said. “But knowing that we can only build up from there motivates us. We needed to step up.”

The Class of 2024 did just that, winning the division back in 2022 and repeating the accomplishment on September 25 after a commanding sweep (25-9, 25-7. 25-6) over East Marshall to win the NICL West outright once again. 

“One thing that you never do is you never take a win for granted,” coach Lori Willis said. “We never take a championship for granted. There’s a lot of people already telling us congratulations. This is a big deal, especially in a conference with a lot of ranked teams. This is fun. This is a streak we definitely want to build back again.”

The Spartans offense clicked with lethal efficiency, laying down 36 kills at a .470 clip with senior Carlie Willis leading the attack with 17 kills and senior Shirley Monaghan six kills. Senior Ellery Luhring totaled 25 assists and 11 digs. 18 aces and succeeding on 96 percent on their serves also helped complete the final division sweep of the season. 

“This team is a strong family,” Lebo said. “We get on each other about the little things, but it's out of love. We know that we want the best for each other and to be the best.”

Winning a conference championship was high on these seniors' list of goals for the 2023 season, which will set up the Spartans to host a site for the upcoming first round of the NICL conference tournament on October 3 and will continue on October 5. 

“We want to see how high we can go in the tournament this season,” Willis said. “We want to better ourselves, better ourselves from last year. Then the next goal is postseason. We want to make it back to State. That much is obvious with these girls.”

The Spartans last qualified for State in 2019, having lost to Denver twice and Wapsie Valley in a Regional final over the last three seasons. This season, however, Grundy Center is in a strong position to be the top seed in their Regional, currently being ranked third in Class 2A. Regionals for this season are expected to be announced just after the NICL tournament is finished. 

“I feel if we keep playing to our highest potential and striving to win each point, we can make our goal a reality,” Lebo said.

Grundy Center (29-4) has the week off to celebrate Homecoming and will next take the court for the NICL Conference Tournament. Brackets will be announced after all divisional games are completed on Tuesday night.