Grain Valley's season ends in three-set loss to Jaguars

by Michael Smith

​     After dropping the first set, the Grain Valley volleyball team need the second to keep the match close with Blue Springs South in the Class 5 District 14 tournament.
     The second game featured 10 lead changes and the Eagles held a 22-20 advantage late. However, the Jaguars went on a 6-2 run from there to take a two-set lead.
     That back-and-forth set seemed to take the wind out of the sails of Grain Valley as its season came to an end in a 25-16, 26-24, 25-20 loss in straight sets Saturday at Blue Springs South High School.
     The Eagles put up a strong effort throughout but couldn’t overcome the strong offense and defense of the Jaguars, who were led by junior Tori Valentine who had 11 kills.
     “Our girls wanted that game,” Grain Valley coach Tori Squiers said. “They were going to fight for every single ball whether they were running into each other or not. That’s all I can ask for.”
     “(Blue Springs South) is a good team. They did everything right. We were in an emotional state of it possibly being the last game. You could tell everyone wanted this game.”
     At times, the Eagles struggled to return serves and surrendered six aces to the Jaguars.
     “The first set, we struggled with serve receive,” Squiers said. “In the second set we looked a lot better.”
     “We lost to a good team. It wasn’t anything that we did wrong, the other team played better. I thought we could have done better with our emotional state with it being our last game.”
     South also did a good job limiting some of Grain Valley’s best hitters up front, including junior Adelyn Bybee and seniors Kellie Overturf and Olivia Williams. South was able to get digs on a good amount of the Eagles’ kill attempts.
     “I could watch film on them a million times, but the teams they are playing aren’t us,” Squiers said. “I think if we played them before, it would have made a huge difference. They had great defense and they had great offense.”
     The Eagles finished the season with a 24-5-2 record and four seniors to graduation.
     “That’s what I told the girls, ‘Keep your heads up high,” Squiers said. “We were conference champs and we won district last year. We can’t win them all.”

Grain Valley senior libero Addison Baumgartner, middle, prepares to receive the serve.
Photo credit: Michael Smith

Senior Olivia Williams goes up for the jump serve.
Photo credit: Michael Smith

Grain Valley sophomore Allison Koepkey takes a jump serve. 
Photo credit: Michael Smith