Greenwood volleyball loses 2, wins 1 in home quadrangular

At its home quadrangular last Thursday, the Greenwood volleyball team came up short in a hard-fought battle against Northland Lutheran (NL). In the best-ofthree match, Greenwood got out to a strong start in the first set, scoring six consecutive points with Liv Lucas serving. Kayla Grambsch and Sarah Beth Reiff had kills for Greenwood.

Eventually, NL started to bring it back, getting to within one point of Greenwood, 9-8. NL was able to capitalize on Greenwood’s gaps, especially hitting to an open spot in the middle of the floor. At that point, Greenwood coach Jenni Mayenschein called a timeout.

“We are all quick enough. We need to figure out and adjust,” she told her team.

Greenwood did a good job of adjusting to cover that gap; however, it wasn’t smooth sailing for the rest of the game. The teams tied at 13. Then a couple of bad passes and service errors by Greenwood led to NL pulling away and winning the set 25-17.

The second set was a battle from the start, with the teams tying at 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 16 and 17 after several long volleys. Some service errors and hits into the net kept Greenwood from gaining a lead. The teams tied again at 20 and 21. When the score was 23-21 in Greenwood’s favor, NL called a timeout.

“We need to protect the middle, especially on free balls,” Mayenschein reminded her team.

Greenwood stayed steady to close out the win, 25-23. The third and final set was only played to 15 points. This time, NL got out to a bit of a lead, 4-1, but Mayenschein wasn’t too worried.

“We gotta be confident in ourselves and follow through on our spikes,” she told her team.

Greenwood rebounded and tied things up at 4, led by a couple of strong serves by Avry Wuethrich. The teams tied again at 5, 8, 9 and 10. Greenwood went ahead a little, helped by serves from Reiff and Bria Thomas, and a kill from Wuethrich.

When it was 13-10, though, NL started bringing it back after a few mistakes from Greenwood. The teams tied again at 13 and NL went on to win the set 15-13 and win the overall match.

Other match scores Greenwood also played Port Edwards, defeating them 2-1. After losing the first set 25-18, Greenwood came back to win the second and third sets, 25-21 and 15-6.

Additionally, Greenwood faced off against Lincoln High School of the Alma Center-Humbird-Merrillan School District. Greenwood lost in two close sets, with scores of 25-21 and 25-20 in Lincoln’s favor.

On the night, Wuethrich made 32 assists. Grambsch had 11 kills and Reiff had 38 digs. The team had a serving percentage of 88 percent.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTO