Iowa-Grant battled inconsistent serving early on, but overcame those game one struggles to sweep Darlington, 26-24, 25-17, 25-11 in a Southwestern Wisconsin Activities League volleyball match last Tuesday night at Darlington.

“We missed a few too many serves in the first game, but fortunately Darlington missed some, too,” explained I-G head coach Marla Simon. “And, that was the big difference in match one. The rest of the match we played more of our game and ran our offense better with Maria Pustina and Josi Olson.”

I-G rallied to take a 24-23 lead and finally won the opening game when Olson crushed a kill past Darlington defender Laura Steiner. Kaci Meyer hammered home game point for a 25-17 win.

I-G carried the momentum into game three and senior Sammie Simon served 15 straight points as the Panthers build a commanding 16-0 lead in the final game. An ace from senior Alyssa Larsen ended the match. She finished the night with five aces.

Maria Pustina led the I-G offense with nine kills, while Olson added eight.

Thursday night Iowa-Grant (5-1) fell to 1-1 in SWAL play with a 25-16, 25-18, 25-12 loss to visiting Southwestern.

“Southwestern has a very good offense, especially behind Katelyn Hoppman, and we had a hard time stopping her,” added Coach Simon. “But, probably our main thing we lacked most was putting the ball away when we had our opportunities.”

Iowa-Grant 3, Darlington 0
(from Tuesday, Aug. 30 @ Darlington)
Iowa-Grant           26    25    25
Darlington            24    17    11
Iowa-Grant stat leaders: Kills - Maria Pustina 9, Josi Olson 8. Blocks - Kaci Myers 2, Sammie Simon 2. Assists - Sammie Simon 20. Aces - Alyssa Larsen 5. Digs - Rachell Foreman 6.
 
Southwestern 3, Iowa-Grant 0
(from Thursday, Sept. 1 @ Iowa-Grant)
Southwestern       25    25    25
Iowa-Grant            16    18    12
Iowa-Grant stat leaders: Kills - Josi Olson 5, Maria Pustina 4, Sammie Simon 4. Blocks - Olson 3. Assists - Sammie Simon 13. Aces - Rachell Foreman 2. Digs - Foreman 6, Dani Engelke 4.