As the Midwest Conference season approaches, the Grinnell College women’s volleyball team hosted a home triangular on Saturday, Sept. 26, welcoming Central College and Alverno College to Darby Gymnasium for a day of back-to-back competition.
Grinnell lost a hard-fought match against Central in three sets (21-25, 11-25 and 15-25). However, the Pioneers bounced back to close out the day against Alverno in four sets (25-14, 20-25, 25-14 and 25-9).
For the Pioneers, the triangular served as the final tune-up before Midwest Conference play begins next weekend, with back-to-back games on Friday, Oct. 2 against Lawrence University and Saturday, Oct. 3 against Ripon College.
After the game against Alverno, Gracie Lim `28, who led the service charge with seven aces, said, “It was an incredible game to play together with such a wonderful team of women. We were so well connected.”
“We did pretty well,” said Millie Leonard `27, who hit 10 kills. “We shouldn’t have dropped the second set, but I was glad that we maintained energy through the other sets.”
The triangular differed from a typical volleyball game by featuring matches against two different opponents on the same day. In total, the gymnasium held six matches against each other with each team competing twice.
Lim said this allowed the team to learn a lot from the first game and execute in the second, and that it was an opportunity to push themselves physically and mentally.
Head Volleyball Coach Eric Ragan said that it is common in volleyball to play more than one match in a day, and that having multiple programs come to Grinnell allowed the team to experience different defensive components. He credited athletic staff for a seamless triangular event.
“It was a team effort — the equipment room, the assistant student workers, everyone has a hand in it, and it’s great to feel supported,” he said.
Ragan said he was happy with the team’s preparation for conference play.
“It was another really good game and … it was great to see the team transfer what we’ve done in practice to the game,” Ragan said. “We played a really tough non-conference schedule to intentionally prepare for conference.”
Lim said that she had seen great growth from her teammates in practices and games.
“I’m incredibly excited for conference, and to turn it up a notch,” she said.
Leonard, who has played on the team since her first year and is now on her last season, said that this year’s team is very young and has great energy.
“The first and second years are doing a great job stepping into their roles,” she said.
Ragan said that he enjoyed witnessing returning players incorporate new first-year members into their play. Looking to the future, he said the team had a clear objective.
“When we’re playing well, we can compete with anyone, so the goal is to make the conference tournament and play for the championship,” he said.
Ragan, Lim and Lenoard all said they wanted people in the Grinnell community to come and watch their games, especially as their conference season kicks off.
“We love the support of the community, our team feeds off the crowd.” Ragan said. “The team is very supportive and collaborative, which makes my job more fun.”
The next home games will be on Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. against Knox College and Saturday, Oct. 10 at 1 p.m. against Illinois College at the Darby Gymnasium.