Grace spikers come back in five at SAU
SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – Facing a 2-1 deficit against Spring Arbor on Friday night, Grace’s volleyball team put on a massive comeback on the road.
The Lady Lancers (7-4, 2-1 Crossroads League) battled the home crowd to beat the Cougars 3-2 thanks to a balanced offensive evening.
Grace had four players reach double figures in kills, led by 15 kills from Sierra Smith. Alexa Hill racked up 53 assists to pace Grace’s attack.
“Spring Arbor played great volleyball. Our girls really dug deep tonight and showed grit and fight to win in five,” said Grace head coach Katie Van Hofwegen. “We struggled with our serving unfortunately, but we passed well. Savannah [Hart] and Kari [Feddema] had great games for us on both sides of the net.”
The first set went according to plan for Grace. The Lady Lancers won 25-18 in the opener after cranking out 14 kills on just three errors.
The Cougars (7-8, 1-2 CL) roared back to win the next two games, 25-21 and 25-18. Grace’s attack sputtered with 14 attacking errors across the sets.
With their collective backs against the wall, Grace charged out to a 9-5 lead in the fourth set. The Lady Lancers cruised on to win 25-15. Kari Feddema and Marta Bleed were key contributors in the set, helping force a tiebreaker.
Savannah Hart started the fifth set with a kill, but Spring Arbor quickly asserted a 7-4 lead. But Grace rallied to take the lead with four straight points, using a pair of blocks from Bleed and Hart along with kills from Bleed and Feddema.
Shortly afterward, Bleed and Hart combined to block two more attacks in a row, forcing the Cougars to burn their second timeout. Grace would not be slowed, however, and clinched the match with a 15-12 win. Feddema ended the match with a kill.
Hart finished the match with 12 kills on a .393 percentage to go along with six block assists, and Feddema had 11 kills on a .313 percentage with three block assists.
Bleed had 10 kills and five block assists, and Lexy Oppenhuis added eight kills.
Sara Miller produced 27 digs, Caylie Teel added 17 digs, and Hill and Gina Novotny each chipped in with nine digs.
The Lady Lancers return home on Saturday for a 3 p.m. match against St. Francis.