The Kenowa Hills varsity volleyball team traveled to Thornapple Kellogg High School on Saturday where they claimed first place by beating Delton Kellogg, Tri-County, Loy Norrix, Hesperia, and Holland all 2-0, and they tied with Thornapple Kellogg 1-1.

In the opening sets against TK, the Lady Knights split 16-25, 25-21, led by Gracyn DeMann with 4 kills and Megan VanHorn with 3.  Setting up the offense was MaKenna Joustra, who tallied 9 assists.  At the serving line, Mishelle Bergsma dished up 2 aces for the Knights and Hali Blik added 1.  Kyla Reichert, Anna Longcore, Gracyn, Mishelle, and MaKenna all served 100% for the match.  Defensively, Macey Sevigny hustled for 16 digs from the libero position along with 11 from MaKenna. 

Leading the way in their match against Delton Kellogg, Megan crushed the ball for 7 kills and Laura Perrin collected 3, while MaKenna added 5 tips to score for Kenowa Hills.  MaKenna also set the ball for 11 assists. Macey served tough at the line to collect 2 aces, followed by Gracyn, who also scored an ace against DK.  Adding consistency to the team’s serving were Anna, Kyla, Gracyn, Hali, Mishelle, Macey, and Madi Skinner, who all served 100%.  Macey led the defense with 20 digs, followed by Mishelle with 13 to end with scores of 25-18, 25-21.

In their next match against Tri-County, the Lady Knights played some great volleyball to defeat the Vikings 25-22, 25-18. Kenowa was led by 3 aces each from Madi and Anna, and 100% serving came from Macey, Madi, MaKenna, Mishelle, Gracyn, and Hali. The back court was led by Macey with 12 digs, and MaKenna and Megan each added 5 in the victory. At the net, Megan and Laura each stuffed the Vikings 2 times.  Setting duties were handled by MaKenna with 12 assists, and Gracyn and Megan smashed the ball for 8 and 6 kills, respectively.

Loy Norrix was the next victim of the Lady Knights as they continued to excel on the court, claiming 25-11, 25-5 victories.  MaKenna tallied 3 aces, followed closely by Hali with 2.  The team showed their consistency from the line by serving 100% for both sets!  Leading the offensive attack were Madi with 7 kills and Laura, Gracyn, and Megan with 2 kills each.  Defensively, Kenowa was led in the backcourt by Macey with 6 digs and Mishelle with 4.  At the net, Laura shut down Loy Norrix with 5 blocks and Madi added 3.

In a fierce matchup with Hesperia to take command of the lead, Kenowa played tough to pull out both wins to seal their first place position with scores of 25-19, 28-26.  At the serving line, Macey, MaKenna, and Mishelle each scored an ace for the victors while Kyla, Madi, Anna, Gracyn, and Macey all served 100% to add consistency for the team.  Offensively, MaKenna set up Gracyn for 7 kills and Megan for 6 in her efforts to set 19 assists for the match.  Great hustle in the back row led to 24 digs for Macey, and Mishelle added 11 for the Knights in their victory.    

In their final match up for the day, the Lady Knights defeated Holland 25-18, 25-21.  100% serving for Kenowa Hills came from Kyla, MaKenna, Gracyn, and Anna; and Madi, Hali, and MaKenna each scored an ace for the Knights. Strong blocking came from Laura and Gracyn, who stuffed the Dutch 4 and 2 times, respectively.  Macey ran down the ball for 16 digs, followed by Mishelle with 11.  On the offensive side, MaKenna set up the hitters for 10 assists, and Gracyn killed the ball 5 times followed by Laura and MaKenna with 3 kills apiece.

Congratulation to the Kenowa Hills varsity volleyball team for claiming the championship plaque by playing terrific volleyball throughout the day.  The Lady Knights return to OK Black Conference play on Tuesday when they travel to Fruitport to take on the Trojans.  Go Knights!