Grizzlies VB Start Season With Challenging Games

The Lady Grizzlies began their season by making the short trip to Preston to take on both Preston and Westside in a tri-match.  Each match would just be a best of three format.  As they faced Preston in the first game the Grizzlies took a few serves to get into the flow of the game.  As a result Preston took a small early lead.  The Grizzlies clawed their way back into the game and eventually took a small lead of their own before the game became knotted up at twenty points each.  After a Preston timeout Grace was able to keep the momentum in their favor and took game one 25-21.  In game two neither team seemed to be able to pull away, keeping the score close in the early going.  Preston then went on a small run taking an 11-6 lead.  The teams continued to battle back and forth with the Grizzlies going on a small run of their own eventually closing the game to 23-22 in favor of Preston.  Grace was unable to get the ball back and fell in game two 25-22.  Game three saw the evenly matched teams continue to do battle and keep a close score.  The Grizzlies were able to pull ahead 11-9 but the lead would not last.  After three unforced errors Preston would take the lead 12-11.  Preston would go on to win this one 15-13 and Grace would lose the match 1-2.

Against the Westside Pirates the Grizzlies benefitted early from several Pirate mistakes.  The Grizzlies would build a comfortable lead at one point going ahead 17-11.  Westside would close the gap to just two points before the Grizzlies pushed the lead back to six at 24-18.  The Pirates would have a brief moment of hope by scoring the next two points before Grace finally took game one 25-20.  Game two would see the Grizzlies start slow in a very fast paced game.  The Pirates jumped out to a 10-3 lead forcing a Grace timeout.  Grace would play better out of the timeout but was never able to get over the hump.  After reeling the score into 21-18 Grace would give up the final four points unanswered and drop game two 25-18.  The third and final game of the match stayed very close with ties happening at both twelve and thirteen points.  After the brief tie at thirteen the Grizzlies would do just enough to walk away with the 15-13 victory winning the match two games to one.

The Lady Grizzlies followed up the tri-match by traveling to Cokeville to take part in a two day tournament.  On day one of the tournament Grace started with Mtn. View.  Grace lost that best of five games 1-3.  Next up they took on Kemmerer and went all five games with each game being very competitive.  Grace came out on top in this one 3-2.  In the final match of the first day the Grizzlies took on the host school Cokeville Wyoming.  Again it would go to all five games.  Grace lost this match up 3-2.

Day two of the tournament started with Grace taking on the eventual tournament champions the Bear Lake Bears.  The Grizzlies were out matched in this one falling in three straight sets.  This set the Grizzlies up against their day one opponents Mtn. View and Cokeville.  Against Mtn. View Grace got some revenge winning the match 3-1.  Taking on Cokeville for the second time Grace dropped the first two sets before rallying in sets three and four winning each.  In the fifth and final set it was close once again but Grace would come out on top winning the match 3-2.

Coach Kayci Christensen commented after the tournament, “Despite playing in an unimaginably hot gym, some minor injuries and gushing nose bleeds they fought until the very end. They are getting better every time they are on the court together.”  Next up for Grace is the cross county rivals Soda Springs.  Grace will host that match on Thursday, September 5th.