Grand’s Kasey Betts puts the ball over the net during the Lady Devils’ loss to Dove Creek on Sept. 14. Photo by Jeff Richards
The first was a Friday, Sept. 13 contest against the Gunnison Lady Bulldogs, which went the full five sets. Grand lost the first set 15-25, then came back to win the second one 25-19. Grand also won the third set 25-20, putting the Lady Devils up 2-1, but they lost the last two sets by scores of 18-25 and 13-15.
Sydney Lema led the Lady Devils with 20 kills during the match, while teammate Tiffanie Whipple recorded six blocks. Cammy Beeman had 17 digs and fellow junior Kasey Betts had 16.
Grand’s junior varsity team played immediately before the varsity contest, and won its match 3-2. Grand’s “C” team also won 3-0.
“I knew Gunnison’s varsity would be tough,” said GCHS head coach Deb Hren. “Janna Hall is a strong, consistent outside hitter.”
Hren said the Lady Devils had prepared well for the Gunnison game.
“All week, we had practiced on some areas of the weakness we had discovered and the team executed those extremely well,” Hren said. “We blocked consistently and put ‘free balls’ in deep corners and successfully strung three points in a row before siding out. The first set, we came out a little slow but the next four were hard fought battles.”
“We were up 11-6 in the final set and just lost focus,” added Hren, noting that the Lady Bulldogs finished with a 9-2 run to wrap up the match.
On Saturday, Sept. 14, the Lady Devils faced the Dove Creek, Colo., team that had beaten Grand during a match at Dove Creek the previous week.
This time around, the Dove Creek team – also the Bulldogs – defeated the Lady Devils in straight sets, 3-0. Dove Creek won the first two sets by identical 25-22 scores, then iced the match with a decisive 25-14 score in the third game.
Lema had 10 kills and 13 digs for the Lady Devils in that match, while Betts had six blocks.
Grand’s junior varsity team defeated Dove Creek 3-1 prior to the varsity match.
This week, the Lady Devils were scheduled to play their first region home game of the season against San Juan on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 6:30 p.m.
“We have previously beaten the Broncos this year, down at the St. George tourney, but we can never look past them,” Hren said.
Grand also plays Wasatch Academy, another region opponent, at Moab on Saturday, Sept. 21, with the varsity match scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.