WOODWARD — The 2017 regular season ended for the Woodward-Granger netters with a 3-1 mark at the Norm McCune Invitational Saturday. W-G finished 22-13 overall and was 6-2 WCAC play after sweeping conference foe Ogden Thursday.
The hosts were 3-0 in Pool A, with South Hardin 2-1, East Union 1-2 and Grandview Christian 0-3. Roland-Story won Pool B with a 3-0 mark, with Fort Dodge 2-1, Colfax-Mingo 1-2 and Panorama 0-3.
W-G defeated South Hardin, 21-14, 21-11 and East Union 21-18, 18-21, 15-3 before topping Grandview Christian, 21-16, 21-19 to win their pool. They fell, 22-25, 26-24 and 15-13 to Fort Dodge in the semifinals.
Roland-Story topped South Hardin, 25-13 and 25-17, in the other semifinal, then defeated Fort Dodge, 25-7, 25-22 to win the title.
East Union was a 2-1 winner over Panorama and Grandview Christian a 2-1 winner over Colfax-Mingo in the consolation bracket, with Grandview Christian then scoring a 2-0 win over East Union to win that side of the event.
Julie Pitman led W-G with 32 combined kills, with Ashley Gales adding 23 Alissa Smeltzer 17 kills, Alyssa Bice 15, Anna Tague 12, Emma Drake four and Kaycee Major one. Pitman finished with seven blocks, Gales four and Drake two, with Smeltzer and Tague making one block apiece.
Drake distributed 88 of W-G’s 102 assists. Libero player Major recorded a team-best 35 digs, with Bice adding 28 and Tague 19. Marissa Pasker tallied 14 digs, Drake 12 and Katelyn Bandstra 10, with Pitman providing six digs, Smeltzer five and Gales four.
Tague served 38-of-40 with six aces and Bandstra 37-of-41 with five aces while Drake finished 31-32-6 and Bice 27-31-2. Major was 17-19-2 beyond the stripe, with Pitman 15-of-18 and Pasker 1-of-1.
W-G was coming off a 25-20, 25-15, 26-24 sweep of host Ogden Thursday.
Gales had 10 kills, Pitman eight and Bice six, with Smeltzer tallying five kills, Tague three and Drake one. Drake had 27 of the 33 assists and was joined by Gales and Pitman in making two blocks apiece while Smeltzer and Tague each had one.
Major’s 18 digs was a team-high, with Tague making eight digs, Bandstra and Drake seven apiece, Bice and Pasker six apiece, Smeltzer two and Pitman one.
Tague was 19-19-3 serving with Drake 13-14-3 and Major 13-14-1. Bice finished 9-11-1 and Bandstra 8-8-2 while Pitman was 6-of-8 and Briley Bermel 1-of-1.
W-G will host Ogden Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a Class 2A Region 3 first round match. The winner will play host and eighth-ranked Tri-Center, in Neola, Oct. 23.
