~courtesy of The Scranton Journal
The Greene County volleyball team had a busy week of action with matches on Tuesday and Thursday plus a tournament on Saturday.
The Rams picked up a Heart of Iowa Conference win on Tuesday, Sept. 7, on the home hardwood, defeating PCM 3-1. Scores were 26-24, 14-25, 25-14 and 25-8.
Kaylee Stalder, Bella Schroeder and Emma Shipley paced the offense with 11, 10 and nine kills each. Alexa Peters topped the defense with 18 digs. Katrina Heupel and Emma Ewalt added 11 and 10 digs. Peters was perfect at the serving line in 16 attempts. Schroeder went 18/20.
“We fought hard for that first set. It was very tense and it was good for us to have to play with that pressure,” said coach Chris Heisterkamp. “I saw a tenacity in our girls that I haven’t seen before. Even though we had too many unforced errors in Set 2, their determined mindset helped us battle past the disappointment to come back for the overall win.”
Greene County lost a conference match Sept. 9 to Roland-Story 23-25, 21-25 and 11-25. Schroder nailed seven kills; Shipley, five; Stalder and Brianna Habben, four each, and Ewalt, three.
The Rams were strong at the net, putting up 16 blocks. Team leaders were: Schroeder, three assists, two solo; Shipley, four assists; Habben, three assists; Natalie Heupel, two assists; Ewalt and Stalder, one each.
“We put a lot of pressure on R-S’s good hitters. We knew they had two main attackers and it was awesome to see our girls challenge them over and over at the net,” explained Heisterkamp. “We would find ourselves down by five or more points, then we would rally back. This happened multiple times, where we showed determined grit that kept us in the match.
“I am very proud of how they kept fighting and didn’t give up. In Set 3, our passing just couldn’t get back in sync, so we will continue to work on the basics and look for ways to keep improving,” added Heisterkamp.
Greene County competed in the South Hardin Tournament in Eldora on Saturday. The Rams went 3-3 on the day.
In pool play, GC went 2-1 with wins over Oelwein (21-9, 21-15) and Boone (21-12, 15-21 and 15-7). They lost to Gladbrook-Reinbeck 21-17, 15-21 and 7-15.
Moving into bracket play, the Rams defeated Coon Rapids-Bayard (21-11, 14-21, 15-10) but lost to South Hardin (6-21 and 11-21) and Edgewood-Colesburg (19-21, 15-21).
“Starting off the day with two wins was the best start we’ve ever had at this tournament,” said Heisterkamp.
“Takeaways for the day – our serving was very strong at 90 percent. Our passing got more consistent throughout the day, but our offense was up and down, so we need to push for more consistency.
“Our blocking was not working in full force and it hurt us,” added Heisterkamp. “There were many teachable moments where we could look at the situation and identify how we should have handled it, and the girls did a good job of making those small corrections for the next time.
“Overall, the six matches we played helped us get better, individually and as a team.”
Schroeder and Stalder topped the team with 18 kills in the six matches. Shipley added 12 kills; Habben and Ewalt, ten each; N. Heupel, five, and K. Heupel, four.
The team served 90 percent at the tournament. Graci Cooklin had a perfect day, landing 39 serves without a miss. K. Heupel went 50/52 for 96 percent and N. Heupel, 23/25 for 91 percent. Ewalt also served 91 percent going 32/35.
The Rams have a 7-4 overall record. They are 1-1 in conference action.
