Ghosts’ serving proves scary
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| Hall’s Christina Richardson (left) and Kelle Nett try to block a shot by IVC in Saturday’s Fieldcrest 2A regional finals at Wenona Middle School. It was the Lady Grey Ghosts’ serving game that did the most damage to Hall, especially in the first set of a 25-10, 25-18 victory. (BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus) |
WENONA — Running into real life Ghosts is never a good thing on Halloween Day. For the Hall Lady Devils, it was these Ghosts’ serving that was really scary.
The IVC Lady Grey Ghosts served the Lady Devils right off their court in the first game of Saturday’s Fieldcrest 2A regional finals, using back-to-back six-point strings from Jessie Ely and Rachel Grochowsky to run away with a 25-10 first-set victory.
Hall (11-25) managed to fight back from the initial shock, tying the second set at 16 before bowing out with a 25-18 loss, their third setback of the season to the NCIC Lincoln champ Lady Grey Ghosts
First-year Hall coach Dani Zellmer said the Lady Devils’ nerves got the best of them in the first set.
“We were nervous and I don’t know why, they (IVC) were the ones that were No. 1,” Zellmer said. “We were just nervous the first game and let our jitters out a little too much.”
Kelle Nett tied the first set at 5 with a kill and gave Hall a 6-5 lead with a service point off an IVC error. Nett’s next serve sailed long and Ely took over at the service line for IVC.
When she was done, Ely served for six straight points, including three aces to give IVC a 12-6 lead.
“It’s a good hard serve. Frequently, she’ll hit it out, but we’re always hoping Jessie’s on tonight. She’s our ace leader, definitely,” IVC coach Lisa Miller said.
“That No. 2 is amazing. She has a great serve. She has good topspin and it’s going straight toward you and then it falls down,” Zellmer said.
Victor hit for the Hall sideout, but then her first serve sailed long. Grochowsky, the Ghosts’ sophomore libero, picked up where Ely left off by picking the Lady Devils’ serve receive apart. She scored six straight, including an ace and forced three receiving errors by Hall to extend the Grey Ghosts’ lead to 19-7.
Hall never recovered as Erma O’Brien and Ely hit for IVC sideouts to close out the first set 25-10 for the Grey Ghosts.
Hall’s second set was a lot like their season in a whole — they got better and better.
The Lady Devils jumped out to a 5-1 lead, and after another dose of Grochowsky’s serving (three points), battled back to tie the game at 8.
A push to the back corner by Katelyn Raineri (6 kills) and an ace by Brigitte Klein gave the Lady Devils a 12-10 lead. Another push by Raineri gained a 13-12 edge for Hall and a deep push by Klein tied the game at 16.
The top-seeded Grey Ghosts outscored Hall 9-2 to wrap up their regional title with a 25-18 win.
“I just wished we could have started out, with me being a new coach and everything, the middle of the season, at the beginning,” Zellmer said. “I’m very proud of these girls to get where they are today.”
Miller said her squad was motivated by the fact they were the top seed at last year’s regional and were knocked out by Princeton.
“Yeah, one and out,” she said. “Even if you go out, you want go out playing well. We wanted to give everything we had, and we did that today.
“We’d like to go to ISU. That’s been the plan from Day 1.”
The next stop for IVC (28-5) will be at home for sectional play Tuesday against El Paso-Gridley.
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