(Griswold, IA) – The Griswold Tigers were able to take the match over the Fremont Mills Knights in three sets (25-11, 25-21, 25-22). The Tigers started off on a good note in the first set but also lit a spark in Fremont Mills to help put them back into contention for the rest of the match.
The first set started off on a tightrope as both teams continued battling back-and-fourth until Griswold was able to go on a serving run led by Addison Adams. Adams remained consistent and the Tigers defense kept up the pace in the back row with Whitney Pennock and Marissa Askeland all over the floor. The Tigers took the first set 25-11 and entered set two with a job on their hands.
Set two was more than competitive until the end as Fremont Mills flipped sides and started out to get on a run as the Knights were serving successfully and consistently while cleaning up the hitting errors in the front row. Griswold struggled defensively as both Emily Madison and Carlie Chambers started to rack up the kills in the front row while also playing sound-blocking defense. After the match was close once again, the Tigers called a timeout and went on a run to eventually battle on the line for their second set victory with the hitting of R’Nya Kirchhoff and the passing in the back row from Pennock.
When we got to set three, Fremont Mills kept things close all the way until the game was tied at 22-22. Griswold relied on the hitting game of Gabbie Greiman to help close things out in the set and relied on setter Carolina Arcia to set her up to take the win over Fremont Mills in the entirety of the match.
Marissa Askeland played a great match on every level. Defensively, she held up on both serve-receive and in the back row while also contributing heavily on offense. She ended the night with eight kills and one ace while achieving one of the three blocks in the match for the Tigers.
Askeland knew that she and her team came into the match with a lot of confidence and that confidence helped them to excel on the night.
This is a Griswold team that works harder than ever before as they will be working hard in practice today to take on Lenox tomorrow. Griswold matched up against Lenox already earlier in the regular season, losing 2-1. The second round will be another tough challenge for the Tigers, but Askeland knows her team can live up to that challenge.
Head coach Joey Rossell was proud of her team’s performance overall and knew that they had fun while competing the entire length of the match.
Gabbie Greiman was an impressive player once again as she earned 11 kills on the night and also two blocks. When Greiman was in the game, the Tigers were pouncing on every corner. She was the player that helped to keep the team consistent and hold them on in the front row.
Whitney Pennock helped in the back row as she was a player that struggled in the second set, but went back to being golden in the third set overall. The team had rough patches but was successful in eliminating their mistakes and pushing forward.
Fremont Mills finishes the season 13-15 overall while Griswold improves to 21-10 as they move on to play Lenox in the next round at home tomorrow.
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