High School Volleyball: STREAK SNAPPED

Staff Report

sports@beeherald.com

MONROE – A commanding three set victory may be the antidote the Greene County volleyball team was in search of. The Rams (4-14, 2-3) swept PCM, 3-0 in a Heart of Iowa Conference road matchup Tuesday, Sept. 20. The victory was just Greene County’s fifth win of the year and second in conference.

The Rams captured a 25-15 opening set win, cruised through the second set with a 25-12 victory and completed the sweep with a 25-18 triumph. After trailing 7-3 early in the fi rst

set, Greene County ripped off a 22-8 run to capture the set victory. The Rams jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the second set and pulled away after a 7-7 tie in the third set for the match win.

Junior Megan Durbin led the way with 13 kills and tied for the team-high in digs with nine. 

Senior Hannah Stein contributed eight kills and nine digs in addition to two blocks. Kenna Marquardt served up a team-high four aces to go with 14-of-16 serves and eight digs. 

Senior Nadia Fisher contributed nine digs of her own in addition to six kills and three aces. As a team, the Rams served up 12 aces, smashed home 30 kills and tallied 49 digs. Greene County was extremely efficient from the service line, connecting on on 80 successful serves for a 91 percent clip. 

The victory snapped a five game losing streak, including an 0-4 showing at the Ballard tournament Saturday, Sept. 17 in Huxley. The Rams’ last win prior to Tuesday came Saturday, Sept. 10 against Gladbrook-Reinbeck.

Rams falter in Ballard tourney, drop four straight

 The Greene County volleyball team had a rough go of things Saturday in Huxley, dropping four, hard fought matches at the Ballard tournament against stiff competition.

The Rams (4-14) fell in straight sets to Ballard, Grand View Christian and second-ranked Pella before losing in a third-set tie-breaker with Woodward-Granger, extending their losing streak (at the time) to five games.

The host Bombers squeaked out a narrow, 21-18, 23-21 win in the opening match as senior Nadia Fisher led the Rams with seven kills. Junior Megan Durbin added six kills of her own to go with a team-high 10 digs. Kenna Marquardt was successful

on 10 of 11 serves and added seven digs and three kills. Senior Hannah Stein was five-of-five from the service line while contributing five digs and four kills. As a team, the Rams sent 22 kills over the net and dug out 32 shots. 

Grand View Christian bested Greene County in another hard fought game, winning 21-18, 21-18. Fisher led the team again in kills with seven to go with five digs and three aces. Stein and Durbin each sent home four kills while Dubin added five digs and two blocks while Stein contributed four digs.

In the game three loss, Pella cruised past the Rams in the opening set (21-7) and prevailed in a much tighter second set, 21-18. Kills were tough to come by for Greene County as the Ram hitters only sent home eight kills in the game. Marquardt led the team with four kills. Durbin contributed seven digs while Fisher and Hannah Promes added four digs apiece.

The Rams were a perfect 26-for-26 in serve attempts to keep them within striking distance of the Little Dutch. In their fourth and final game, Greene County dropped the opening-set, 25-19, bounced-back with a hardfought, 25-23 victory in the second but the Hawks prevailed 15-7 in the final set for the win. Durbin led the Rams with 10 digs and six kills to go with four service aces. Stein recorded a team-high seven kills to go with three digs and two blocks. Fisher added five kills to the 25 total Ram kills. As a team, Greene County recorded 36 digs and seven aces. Fisher’s 117 team-leading kills put her at seventh in the Heart of Iowa Conference through 19 games. Durbin is just behind finish in 10th with 109 kills. Promes’ 348 assists are fourth in the HOIC while Durbin’s 145 digs are seventh in the conference. Senior Emily Heupel has connected on 186 successful serves, which puts her fourth best in the conference. Marquardt (173) and Fisher (171) are eighth and ninth, respectively.

The Rams are next in action for a tournament Monday, Sept. 26 at Roland-Story. First serve gets underway at 4:30 p.m.