Glenwood third at Atlantic tournament

Glenwood went 3-2 and placed third at the Atlantic Volleyball Tournament Saturday.

The Class 4A, No. 13 ranked Rams (11-5 overall, 2-0 in the conference) earned wins over the host Trojanns 21-9, 21-7, Underwood 24-22, 21-11 and Council Bluffs St. Albert 21-16, 23-21. Glenwood suffered losses to Winterset 15-21, 16-21 and to tournament champion Treynor, 20-22, 14-21.

After opening with a strong victory over Atlantic, the Rams played well against Treynor in game two but couldn’t get over the top against the Class 2A, No. 11 ranked Cardinals. But Glenwood did rebound to win two of its final three matches.

“It was good to not see us dwell on the loss to Treynor,” said Glenwood girls coach Chelsey Hirt. “We picked up and played right away against a team we knew would be good. That’s a huge improvement from last year. It wasn’t always easy for us to get fired up after a loss and we did that.”

Brielle Smith played well for the Rams all day. The senior recorded a team-high 12 blocks and added 16 kills.

“I am really impressed with her ability to get blocks,” Hirt said. “She gets hands on a lot of balls at the net and that really helps our back row. If you can get a touch on a block you’re going to slow that ball down for our defense and our setters. She’s a positive light for our team. She and Jaeda (Wilson) are our team captains and she’s giving all she can and the girls see that.”

Elle Scarborough led the Rams with 19 kills on the day. Joslyn Lewis added 18.

Wilson had a team-best 40 digs.

Glenwood 25-25-25
Red Oak 16-17-21

In what Coach Chelsey Hirt called her team’s “most complete” match of the young season, the Glenwood volleyball team dominated in all phases in a 25-16, 25-17, 25-21 sweep of Red Oak in Hawkeye 10 Conference volleyball last Tuesday.

Hirt said her Rams (8-3 overall, 2-0 in the conference) always seem to get up to play the Tigers (2-5 overall, 0-2 in the conference) whether it be a scrimmage, tournament or a conference match.

“Our student section has been getting a lot bigger so that gets them energized,” said Hirt, who improves to 2-1 against the Tigers since taking over Glenwood last season. “Whenever we have that momentum going for us it keeps we do good things and it keeps us out of our heads and well rounded. Everybody felt like they were on (in the match).

“We didn’t have a weak link and we were running things we didn’t know to run before. We had a good practice Monday and it showed against Red Oak.”

The Class 4A, No. 15 ranked Rams used their deep and aggressive attack to hit a blistering .354 with 38 kills from barrage of different hitters and overwhelm the Tiger defense.

Six of the Rams hitters recorded at least four kills, led by Brielle Smith’s 10. Elle Scarborough added seven, Joslyn Lewis had six, Erin Stanley and Brooklyn Taylor six each and Paige Hays four.

“A lot of schools just have one or two offensive players that can put a ball down,” Hirt said. “Looking at our stats, our kill numbers will well balanced among six hitters. Our front row is doing what they’re supposed to do. That’s hard for a team to block when you have weapons on all sides.”

Defensively, Glenwood was scrappy and

“We were so well rounded,” Hirt said of her offense and defense clicking. “Our libero, Jaeda Wilson, she gets so many balls up. I have so many coaches come and tell me ‘She gets all our spots.’ With her back there, its gives our defense confidence. Kelly Embray is new to varsity and she’d playing right there with Cameron Rounds. They’re both playing so well.”

Wilson led the way with 10 digs while Embray and Rounds each added six.

Glenwood also served at a .932 clip (68-of-73) with 11 aces.