The Vicksburg varsity volleyball team started the season with six straight wins, and it’s hardly slowed down since. The team’s current record is 16-8-0, with the most recent victory a 3-0 sweep over conference rival Sturgis. The Bulldogs were led with 12 kills by Brynn Swetz. She also had three aces serving. Lena Lancaster wasn’t far behind her with 11 kills and 12 digs on defense.
Jenna Schramer served two aces and led the team in digs with 16. Liva Kline had 10 digs. Hailey Havera continued her big season with 39 assists.
Even when the Bulldogs have lost this year, in most cases they haven’t done it without a fight. They proved their tenacity in an early September showdown with number five-ranked Kalamazoo Christian turned into a full five-set war that could have gone either way. The team went back and forth on scoring with Comets for much of the first set. The two teams stopped briefly to celebrate Havera getting her 1,000th career assist. Vicksburg won the set 25-22.
The two teams traded wins in sets two and three. Kalamazoo Christian took set two, 25-17, and Vicksburg won set three, 25-18. The Comets put on a strong effort to force a fifth set with a 24-17 win in set four.
The subsequent battle for the win went far beyond the 15 points needed to win. The score eventually got to 14-14, but both teams had a hard time getting the two points needed to win. It ultimately went back and forth until Kalamazoo Christian finally won the match 22-20. Havera had 35 assists in the contest. Addison Naplin had 16 kills and 16 digs. She hit a milestone of 500 career kills right before the contest against Kalamazoo. Swetz and Lancaster both had 13 kills. Schramer had 27 digs. Harper Roy and Lyla Veldt both had five blocks up front.
The Bulldogs still have a few conference matchups awaiting them in the final weeks of the season. However, they should be in good position to make some noise when postseason play begins in November.
