G-H/V volleyball team claims own tournament championship

The Garner-Hayfield/Ventura volleyball team opened the 2012 season with a 5-0 record and a tournament title, winning their own tournament on Saturday, Aug. 25.

“We are pleased with our start, but we also found things we can work on,” said Coach Tracy Schmidt.  “It was great to see the fan support in the stands for our first outing as G-H/V.  The two programs have a lot of pride in their 

sports and now as one program we came together for a great day of volleyball.”

The Cardinals opened the day with a win over West Fork, 21-6 and 21-16.  G-H/V continued their strong serving and offensive power by defeating Newman, 21-14 and 21-9.  In their final match of pool play Northwood gave the Cards a tough run, jumping to an early 5-1 lead before G-H/V rebounded to tie the score 7-7.  The Cardinals fought through the set, winning 21-19 behind a final point kill from Sola Stephenson.  Emily Mathews also had a strong hand in the win recording nine kills with no errors.  The lead see-sawed in the second set with the Cards getting a 10-8 lead before Hannah Hutcheson served out the set, 21-8.

In the semi-finals against West Hancock, G-H/V continued its hot streaks of offensive power, recording 23 kills in 35 attempts, on the way to a 2-0 victory.  Coach Schmidt credited setter Courtney Younge for moving the ball around and keeping the defense guessing.  She finished the day with 72 assists.

The Cardinals were tested in the finals by a pesky Rockford team.  G-H/V fought off a 2-7 lead by the Warriors and remained behind, 9-13, before Miranda Frederick went on a serving run to take the lead, 15-14.  The team went on for the 21-18 win.  The Cards won the second set 21-11 for championship honors.

For the day, the Cardinals served 92 percent, including a 100 percent performance by Bethany Nannenga, who was 32/32 with five ace serves.  Hutcheson was also strong at the service line, going 37/38 with nine aces.  Frederick recorded 11 ace serves.

Mathews led the team in kills with 38, followed by Shelby Rayhons with 20 and Dasi Larson with 14.

Rayhons led the defensive effort with 30 digs, while Hutcheson and Frederick had 17 and 16 respectively.

Mathews recorded the most blocks with nine, followed by Larson with seven and Younge had six blocks.

The Cardinals travel to Clarion on Thursday, Aug. 30.