The Grand Rapids Community College women’s volleyball team swept the Lake Michigan College Red Hawks 3-0 Tuesday, extending their winning streak to six in a quick, convincing victory.
The team seemed to be clicking from the get go, contrary to their previous history of slow starts to home games.
“We changed up our pre-match routine,” said Head Coach Chip Will. “We got the team together a little bit earlier than normal to get them focused earlier in the day. We’re just trying to change up some things so we play better at home because on the road we’ve been pretty clean, pretty successful. We’re trying to translate that into our games at home and I think we did that here tonight.”
Complete focus on the game was the mindset the team had going into the game.
“In practice, we’ve been really working on being focused as a team and after every point, coming together and saying something productive, or constructive,” said Freshman Defensive Specialist Kennedy Potts. “I think that made a difference and really helped us focus even if we didn’t do exactly what we needed to, we still had a goal in mind and worked well as a team.”
Freshman Setter, Lauren Helsen, played her first game as a Raider against the Red Hawks and it certainly helped the team win the game.
“It was really exciting to have Lauren back after the injury,” Potts said. “She played really well and helped us win a lot of points.”
“It felt good to be back playing volleyball,” said Helsen, who was sidelined by an ankle injury in her senior year at Coopersville High School. “I was really nervous at first because I haven’t been able to play in four months, but then I got into it, I got into a rhythm and I was fine after that … I thought my serves were good and my defense considering I’ve never really played defense before.”
Other Raiders played well including sophomores outside hitter Rylee Storms with 12 kills, defensive specialists/setter Kylie Frank with 16 assists and Janie Bunge with 14 digs.
The next match will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, at the Ford Fieldhouse, followed by the Raider Challenge tournament Oct. 1 and 2.
