Grundy Center volleyball topples Tigers in road sweep

ELDORA – Grundy Center volleyball went on the attack at South Hardin on Tuesday, sweeping the Tigers and giving the Spartans a leg up in the NICL West title race.

The 12th-ranked Spartans defeated the 10th-ranked Tigers, 25-13, 25-23, 27-25, South Hardin’s first loss of the season, dropping them to 10-1 overall. Carlie Willis and Kayden Muller led the Spartan attack with 19 and 12 kills, respectively.

Meanwhile, Grundy Center improved to 13-2 and claimed another major victory after winning North Tama’s tournament three days earlier with a straight-set victory over the Redhawks, the top team in Class 1A.

“They had a lot of momentum, a lot of confidence,” Grundy Center coach Lori Willis said. “We did a lot of good things this past weekend, we communicated really well. And we knew that we could take that and have that confidence going into this match.”

The teams were even at the start of Tuesday’s match. Grundy Center held a slim 10-9 lead in set one before busting loose with a 12-2 burst that included six kills from a hard-swinging Carlie Willis.

“I was focusing on swinging high and not burying the ball,” Carlie said, “and then just placing it where they weren’t.”

Willis had nine kills in that first set, and perhaps more importantly drew a lot of attention from South Hardin’s blockers that opened up opportunities for Muller and others.

“I love that our team is so selfless - They don’t care who gets the point, they just want the point,” Lori Willis said.

Muller’s 12 kills was a new career high for the sophomore in the middle.

“We say she’s our Corvette. She’s not big, she’s not a Mack truck, but she’s gonna put that ball where you’re not,” Lori Willis said. “She knows how to hit around the block and score and she just shined so bright tonight.”

The one-sided first set did not faze the Tigers, trading runs with the Spartans in set two and putting Grundy’s backs against the walls with a 22-21 lead in set two. Coming out of GC’s final timeout in that set, the Spartans put together three straight points on a Tiger attack error, a Muller ace and a tandem block from Paige Venenga and Ellery Luhring to jump ahead 24-22, and Shirley Monaghan finished it two points later for the set two win, one of four kills Monaghan had in the final eight points for the Spartans.

Luhring, the Spartan setter, distributed 29 assists to her attackers on Tuesday.

“When you’re setting, you know what’s working, what’s not working, and we were trying to hit behind their blocks and got better and better as the game went on,” Luhring said. “We were finding our shots and sets that could get our hitters open. … If they got a few points, we weren’t down on ourselves, just come back with a hard swing and keep playing.”

The third set was more back-and-forth, with South Hardin up 23-21 coming out of a Grundy Center timeout.

Lori Willis said victories for South Hardin in the last two years, including last season’s five-set comeback win for South Hardin in Grundy Center, may have been fresh in the minds of the Spartans.

“It’s a little bit more of a mental battle at that point,” Lori Willis continued. “Maybe it makes it harder than we needed it to be. And we missed a lot of serves in that second set that gave South Hardin a lot of confidence.”

 The Tigers had a couple kill errors that opened the door for the Spartans to tie it up at 23-all, and Muller placed a hit for a 24-23 lead and match point. The Tigers were able to fight off two of those match points with a couple Ellie Anderson kills, but sophomore hitter Paige Venenga stepped up for her only kill of the game to win it.

The Spartans will meet AGWSR in Ackley next Tuesday, Sept. 13 in a meeting between the only two unbeaten NICL West teams remaining in the five-team division.

“It’s another step in the direction of getting back to Grundy Center as NICL champs,” Carlie Willis said of Tuesday’s win. “And we’re just excited and happy for each other.”

GC 3, SH 0

Stat leaders

Kills–GC (Carlie Willis 19, Kayden Muller 12, Shirley Monaghan 8); SH (Ellie Anderson 12, Ava Paige 7). Assists–GC (Ellery Luhring 29, Lucy Lebo 5); SH (Ava Salvo 11, Paige 5). Digs–GC (Lebo, Willis 15, Luhring 12); SH (Abby Teske 13, Salvo 10, Alli Sheldahl 9). Blocks–GC (Luhring 3, Willis, Monaghan, Paige Venenga 1); SH (Sheldahl, Salvo 3, four with 1). Serving–GC (Willis 18-18, 2 aces; Muller 7-9, 2 aces); SH (Anderson 13-13, 3 aces; Teske 13-13, 2 aces).