By Lindsey Soet
After a 2-0 weekend in road matches against Alpena Community College and Bay College, the No. 9 Grand Rapids Community College volleyball team won their 18th consecutive game against North Central Michigan College 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-21) on Oct. 11 at the Ford Fieldhouse.
After a slow start in the first set, the Raiders quickly caught up and cruised through the rest of the set along with the second set 25-18 and 25-15. In the final set, however, GRCC struggled, trailing NCMC 14-19.
After taking their second timeout of the set, the Raiders quickly rebounded and sealed their victory, 25-21.
Sophomore Braelyn Berry, who was named the MCCAA Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season, led the team with 13 kills, 14 digs, three assists and one ace.
“I would say we did a really good job of serving aggressively and just getting some good space on (the) balls,” Berry said.
Freshman Lizze MacIntosh had 10 kills and four aces and sophomore Vienna Koenigsknecht had 17 digs.
Head Coach Chip Will was especially impressed with the team’s performance, as he implemented new lineups for this matchup due to recent illnesses within the team.
“We kind of threw a new lineup in…we’ve been sick the last couple of days, a couple people missed practices,” Will said. “I was really, really proud of the group as far as coming in through asking them to do some different things that they maybe haven’t tried yet in a practice.”
GRCC is now 20-3 overall and 10-0 in conference play. The Raiders will be back in action on Thursday, Oct. 19 against Montcalm Community College at 6:30 p.m. for GRCC’s homecoming at the Ford Fieldhouse in their final home game of the regular season.
