The Lady Eagles of Grace Christian School may have won only one of the three matches they played last week, but GSC head coach Jamey Willers said the tough competition would be helpful down the road for her squad. Grace Christian opened the week with a three-set loss to MHSAA Class 4A New Hope, before falling to Hartfield Academy, one of the top MAIS schools, in three sets later in the week. The win came in straight set against Pickens (Ala.) Academy This week the middle school and junior varsity played at Pillow Academy in Greenwood on Tuesday, while on Thursday the Lady Eagles travel to Columbus to take on Heritage Academy in junior varsity and varsity matches. GSC will not play in a tournament it was scheduled to participate in on Saturday. “We are excited to have some more practice times in the next two weeks after 10 straight matches with no practice times in between,” Willers said. The Lady Eagles used a 85.7 percent serving percentage to take the 25-21, 25-12, 25-17 win over Pickens. Carley Peterson led the way with nine aces, while Lenleigh Dobbs had 11 digs and 14 serve receptions. Peterson also put down six kills, as GSC had 23 as a team. Bella Brownlee led Grace Christian with 18 assists. New Hope’s consistency led the Lady Trojans to a 25-8, 25-8, 25-15 win over Grace Christian. “New Hope is a consistent team that makes very few errors and got almost everything back up,” Willers said. “We took the court playing very tense, which led to some unforced errors.” Marleigh Turnipseed had a strong defensive game for GSC, recording seven digs and 10 serve receptions. A very strong Hartfield team took a 26-8, 25-13, 15-12 win over Grace Christian. “Hartfield is smooth, powerful, and makes very few Mistakes.” Willers said moving Jasmine Kelly to middle blocker helped shore things up for the Lady Eagles in the second set. “She really put pressure on their hitters at the net causing them to be off-cycle several times, while giving us more confidence on our side of the net.” The Lady Eagles had 16 digs and eight kills as a team against Hartfield. Lady Eagles pick up three wins in first week of play By Austin Bishop Choctaw Plaindealer The Grace Christian School volleyball team got the season going in a big way to open the season two weeks ago, taking part in seven matches. GCS split a pair of matches during the week – losing to Hartfield Academy 25-3, 25-11, and 25-16, before bouncing back to defeat Heritage Academy 25-25, 25-7, and 25-13. The Lady Eagles recorded 31 aces and 18 kills against Heritage, led by Anna Howell with five kills and a .444 hitting percentage. Anna Gillis had 15 aces for the winners, while Jasmine Kelly received six serves without an error. The Lady Eagles then took part in the Tuscaloosa Christian Cotton Classic where they played five matches. GSC split sets against Evangel Christian 17-25, 25-23. “We really fought back in the second set after losing the first set, showing great mental toughness and determination,” GSC head coach Jame Willers said. Kelly had six kills, while Bella Brownlee led the way with six digs. In the second match of the day Kelly delivered 12 of her team’s 22 kills as the Lady Eagles teat Tuscaloosa Home Educators 25-15, 25-20. Lenleigh Dobbs led the defense with four digs and 10 serve receives, with only one error. “We stayed in control and played very aggressively,” Willers said of her team. The Lady Eagles lost to New Life 25-22, 25-23 in a tight match, that saw Gillis serve eight aces. GSC struggled receiving serves, making 12 errors as a team. Grace Christian had 20 kills in the match. Grace Christian then had 17 aces and 16 kills to roll past Brooklane 25-9, 25-9. Gillis had five aces, while Carly Peterson recorded five kills to go with a hitting percentage of .555. The Lady Eagles closed out the day with a 27-25, 25-23 loss to Cornerstone Christian Academy in an exciting, well-played match. “This was a phenomenal game for our outside hitters,” Willers said. “It was a really good game for us. I think we learned a lot this week. We got a lot of experience for sure.” Kelly recorded 15 of the team’s 25 kills in the match, while Peterson had 10.
