Spartans serve up G-R in four sets

The Spartans locked in from set two and overwhelmed Gladbrook-Reinbeck with an aggressive offense, running off the Rebels in four sets at Gladbrook-Reinbeck High School.

Grundy Center won 22-25, 25-12, 25-13, 25-10 to improve to 14-7 overall and 2-1 in the NICL West. G-R fell to 12-11 and 1-3, respectively.

“We just really needed to come out aggressive,” Grundy Center senior Kayden Muller said. “It was almost like our desire wasn’t there. We had to come out hyped up, ready to play.”

Grundy led 15-9 in the first set before G-R battled back to tie it at 18-all. Part of the Rebel comeback included a rally point where Kailey Larsen made a diving dig of a Spartan hit, a dig that Grundy Center did not see until it was almost too late on the G-R return, and though the Spartans regrouped to send it back over to the Rebels, G-R had the visitors out of system and scored soon after, a point that Grundy Center head coach Lori Willis saw as a demoralizing blow.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER – Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s Braelynn Morgan (11) pushes the ball past Grundy Center defender Jenna Blythe (18) during Tuesday’s NICL West Division volleyball match in Reinbeck.

“The momentum totally changed,” Willis said. “I was looking at us out there and we’re sulking, we’re pouting out there. When you do that, you have to make a choice to get out of it.”

It was the beginning of a 11-3 Rebel run, setting the stage for Kennedy Brant to close the door with a couple kills and a set-winning ace serve.

“I thought it was very competitive on both sides,” G-R head coach Paula Kelley said. “We were getting our passes up to the front row to take advantage of our swings and it was what I expected the whole night should be.”

After talking it over with the Spartans between sets, Willis saw a much more intense Spartan team from set two onwards; G-R only led one more time after winning the first set — 1-0 at the start of set three.

“It makes any coach proud when a team responds the way they did,” Willis said. “They forgot what happened in that first set and just played their game super aggressive, went out there and battled, made it definitive who we were and where we stand.”

Grundy was led in part by some underclassmen standouts. Sophomore Ryanne Brubaker put down a team-leading 17 kills, Raelyn Steinmeyer, the sophomore libero, was 24-of-24 serving with three aces, and freshman Trinity Jirovsky had six kills.

The Spartan serving in general seemed to fluster the Rebels at times — junior setter Lauren Zajac added three aces and Kelley said that passing from the back row was a struggle in the final three sets.

“Serving is one of the most important parts of the game,” Grundy Center senior Kayden Muller said. “It’s important to keep you going into the game and also get you out of [a deficit] like it did for us.”

Grundy Center’s three seniors — Muller, Paige Venenga and Kahlynn Draper — are doing their part to bring this team along after graduating five major senior contributors from last season’s state semifinalist team.

“It can be hard sometimes with younger girls because they may not know everything, but being able to help build this team and their confidence is really encouraging for all of us,” said Venenga, who finished with nine kills and four aces on Tuesday. “We’re learning and growing as seniors as well.”

Brubaker is literally head-and-shoulders above her competition at 6-foot-7 but is finding room to grow metaphorically, too.

“One thing where she’s grown so much that most people don’t see is trust, trust in what we are telling her, trust in her setters, trust in herself,” Willis said. “She’s not second-guessing herself so much anymore. It’s hard to be six-foot-seven because there’s a lot of pressure with that, and she’s handling it very well and maturing. We just keep telling her to be the best Ryanne she can be today, not in two or three years, today.”

Willis said her and assistant coach Landry Luhring lean on the seniors to help figure out what works best for the team, which recently had a lineup change to move Steinmeyer over to libero and bring freshman Jenna Blythe in to the rotation.

“We talk with our senior girls, show them stats, show them what we’re thinking, have them watch different things,” Willis said. “Because then they are bought in to the program, too, and if you have a senior with buy-in like that, they’re going to go to the wall for you, and that’s exactly what they’re doing right now.”

Muller added: “It’s been awesome to work with those girls. They’re not scared to play, they’re aggressive, they constantly have a good attitude, and I think they’re a huge asset to our team.”

For the Rebels, it’s a slight step back after beating Grundy Center in a North Tama tournament earlier this month, which was the first time G-R had defeated the Spartans in any capacity since 2009.

“We didn’t have the intensity throughout that we had in that first match,” Kelley said. “Once we got down, we couldn’t get it back, and that’s something we’ll have to work on.”

G-R is off until a triangular with Hudson and Oelwein on Oct. 1. Grundy Center heads to a Grinnell triangular, along with Pella Christian, on Thursday.