Cards place second at NIC Tournament; top Lake Mills

It was a successful week for the Garner-Hayfield/Ventura volleyball team, as they picked up two wins and placed second in the NIC Tournament.

GHV 3, Osage 0

It was a first for the Cardinals Tuesday night, as they swept Osage on the road.

“The girls did a fantastic job of utilizing the free ball and 

executing to win points,” said Coach Kelsey Steffens.  “This was the first time we swept Osage.”

The games were close, 25-20, 25-21 and 25-18.

“Osage had a great defense, which made our offense step it up,” said Steffens.

Leading the strong Cardinal offense was Emily Mathews and Hannah Lau.  Mathews had 12 kills on 24 attempts, while Lau knocked down 10 kills on 22 attempts.  Mackenzie Van Gerpen had five kills and Shelby Rayhons had four. 

Courtney Younge led the team with 32 assists.

Mathews was also a defensive leader with nine digs.  Emily Spilman, Mallory Van Oort and Miranda Frederick had five digs apiece.

Rayhons led the team at the service line, collecting 10 points and one ace.  Spilman and Younge had nine and eight points respectively and Mathews collected five points.  Mathews and Spilman each had one ace serve.

GHV 3, St. Ansgar 0

It was another sweep for GHV, as they defeated St. Ansgar on Thursday, Oct. 3, at St. Ansgar.  Again, the games were close, 25-22, 25-21 and 25-18.

Emily Spilman and Miranda Frederick led the team from the service line.  Spilman had 12 points and one ace, while Frederick had eight points and three ace serves.  Mallory Van Oort collected nine points of her own, and Younge and Rayhons had six points apiece.

Frederick and Rayhons also put up a good defensive fight with seven and five digs respectively.  

Emily Mathews led the team in kills with 14 kills on 19 attempts.  Hannah Lau had 10 kills on 18 attempts and Mackenzie Van Gerpen was 5/18.  Courtney Younge set up 24 assists for her hitters.

NIC Tournament

The North Iowa Conference tournament was held in Lake Mills Saturday, Oct. 5, with the semi-finals being played on Monday, Oct. 7.

Lake Mills and Forest City each picked up three wins on Saturday in pool play, while Garner-Hayfield/Ventura and Osage also earned berths to move on to Monday’s semi-final matches.  Both Osage and GHV were 2-1 on the day.

The Cardinals opened play on Saturday by defeating West Hancock, 21-11 and 21-16.  They went on to top Belmond-Klemme, 21-14 and 21-4, before meeting Forest City.  Despite being down, 18-12 in the first game, GHV battled back to win the first game against Forest City, 22-20, before the Indians topped them in the next two games, 21-18 and 15-7.

“The girls focused in on set two against Belmond-Klemme, which was a great setup for Forest City,” said Coach Kelsey Steffens.  “Forest City’s aggressive offense kept us from running ours.”

On Monday, the Cardinals proved they are a force to be reckoned with, as they upset a strong Lake Mills team, who is unbeaten in conference regular season play, 3-1.   GHV dropped the first game, 25-21, before storming back to take the next three, 25-16, 25-20, and 25-16.

“The girls played their best - Read More VIa e-Eidition