Lady Grizz Struggle To Find A Win

The Lady Grizzlies have had several close competitive sets this season but continue to come up just short of getting wins.  In fact, their last win was nearly a month ago in Cokeville and they haven't won a set since traveling to Murtaugh on September 11th.  Last week's slate of games for Grace would not make remedying that situation an easy task, especially with potato harvest in full swing.

The Grizzlies started off with traveling to Grace Lutheran in Pocatello.  The Lady Royals are one of the top 1A teams in the state and entered the contest with a six and two record.  As things got under way, the game was very close.  There were several early lead changes and the game became tied at six.  Grace then began to make some costly mistakes, allowing the Royals to get up on them 7-12.  Grace fought back into the game and got the score to 14-18 before falling flat again and losing the opening set 16-25.  In the second set, the Grizzlies kept things much closer.  With several long rallies and some good digs Grace fought to stay in this one, eventually tying things up at twenty-one points each but never leading.  The Royals would not be defeated however, and scored the final four points to take set two with a score of 25-21.  In the third set, the Lady Grizzlies looked like the better team, but things stayed close.  Grace would build an 18-16 lead, but would follow that up with four straight errors, handing the Royals their first lead late in the set.  Grace soon fought back to tie things at twenty-two.  The Royals did what the Grizzlies have struggled to do and finish the game winning 25-22.  The Grizzlies had several errors in this game that if they are able to clean up would give them the win over this caliber of team.

Following the disappointing loss in Pocatello, the Grizzlies traveled to Bear Lake to take on the 4A Bears.  Bear Lake is a very good team and they showed it to the Grizzlies.  Even though the Grizzlies were able to make things a little interesting in the first set, the Bears ultimately got the 18-25 win in the first set.  The next two sets were disastrous for the Grizzlies.  A combination of mistakes by Grace, power hitting by the Bears and a long harvest week saw the Grizzlies go down 7-25 in both the second and third sets.  The Grizzlies went to their bench a little more this week perhaps looking for something that can put them over the edge.  They have talented girls that have the potential to play with anyone but this slump can be taxing on the psyche of the players.  The Grizzlies will have to regroup and get ready for another big test Wednesday night when they travel to a very good Malad team.