Ram varsity volleyball gets two big league wins

By SUE RIEDER
sports@beeherald.com

Greene County’s varsity volleyball team should be getting used to boarding the bus to play volleyball as they had three more events on the road this past week, and came home with a couple of big conference wins. The squad  also traveled to Pella and competed in a tournament on Oct. 11.

On Oct. 9 the Rams shocked North Polk by beating the Comets in four games 25-22, 19-25, 25-21, and 27-25. At the time, North Polk was ranked 14th in Class 3A. “From the beginning of the match, we played very composed and aggressively,” said coach Donna Carhill. “Even when we would get behind, the team would pull together and rally back. I was pleased to see that the players did not let errors compound, but instead really worked to make a positive play following an error.” The team served with 93 percent accuracy, had 42 kills, nine blocks, and 83 digs. Top servers for the Rams were Bailey Godwin 16/16 with one ace,  Stacy Mears 22/24 with one ace, and Mollie Sorber 19/21. Sorber and Godwin led in assists with 21 and 18 respectively. Marissa Promes was credited with 21 digs, while Emma Saddoris had 14. Nadia Fisher led the team in kills with 12. Other kill leaders were Kayla Mobley with 10, Mears with 8, and Nicole Kuhl with 7.

Greene County got their second conference win of the week over South Hamilton in Jewell on Oct. 14. The Hawks were very competitive on their senior night, and the Rams had to play five games to get the victory. The first four games were tight throughout with each team jockeying for the lead. Greene County pulled out the first game 25-22, but South Hamilton won game two 27-25. The Rams won game three 25-20, but the Hawks won game four by that exact same score. Both teams were diving for balls and blocking the other team’s hits. Greene County finally pulled away in the final game when they scored eight consecutive points and won 15-8. Statistical leaders for the Rams in their match versus South Hamilton were: Servers-  Mears 21/23, Godwin 19/19 with one ace, Saddoris 18/18; Assists- Godwin 29, Sorber 22; Kills- Kuhl 13, Mears 14, Fisher 11; Digs- Saddoris 16, M. Promes 18. “In the last week we’ve seen some great improvements in passing and attacks, and both of those skills helped us win this conference match,” said coach Carhill. “In this match our middle hitters did a particularly good job mixing up offensive options in order to score. We’ve also been able to maintain a team serving percentage over 93 percent, and in close matches serving successfully becomes critical. This was a good win at this point, not only in our conference season, but in the season overall.

Scores of Ram games at the Pella Tournament on Oct. 11 were: versus Mediapolis, 20-22, 18-20; versus North Mahaska, 21-11, 21-12; versus PCM, 21-10, 21-14; versus Pella, 21-16, 18-21, 10-15; versus Knoxville, 21-23, 14-21.

Ram statistical leaders at the Pella Tourament: Servers- Sorber 40/41(2 aces), Godwin 37/37 (2 aces), Mears 26/36 (5 aces); Assists-  Sorber 42, Godwin 39; Kills- Mears 20, Kuhl 15; Digs- Sorber 34, Tressa Rasmussen 26, Saddoris 20. “This was an intense day for us with five matches, four of them being in a row. We played competitively with all teams, but just couldn’t get ahead of Knoxville at the end of the day,” said coach Carhill.