Van Meter claimed a tight 3-1 win at Woodward-Granger in WCAC volleyball Tuesday, sending the Hawks to their second setback in conference play this season. W-G has lost two or more WCAC games in the same campaign only three times in their nine years in the league, which includes five titles.
The Bulldogs (24-4, 7-1) were 25-21 and 25-21 winners in the first two sets, only to have the Hawks (18-12, 6-2), playing on Senior Night, rally for a 25-11 third-set victory. Van Meter slipped off with the match win by claiming a 30-28 victory in the fourth set.
Ashley Gales and Julie Pitman tallied 13 kills and two blocks apiece for W-G, with Alissa Smeltzer making seven kills, Anna Tague six and Alyssa Bice four. Emma Drake had 34 assists and a block, with Bice and Kaycee Major each making three assists.
Major had 24 digs and Ashlyn Soelberg 19, with Drake providing nine digs and Bice seven. Smeltzer recorded four digs and Tague three, with Pitman, Gales and Katelyn Bandstra having two digs apiece.
Soelberg served 21-of-22 with two aces, with Bandstra 15-17-1 and Bice 14-16-1. Tague finished 12-13-1, with Drake 13-of-15, Major 9-of-9 and Pitman 1-of-3.
W-G will host the annual Norm McCune Invitational Saturday. The hosts will play in a pool with Grandview Christian, East Union and South Hardin, with Panorama, Fort Dodge, Roland-Story and Colfax-Mingo in the opposite pool. Each team will play three times in their pool, with full consolation and championship brackets held. Play will begin at 8:30 a.m.
