The ACGC volleyball team lost a hard fought match to a long and lean and hard hitting Woodward-Granger team on the Charger court on Tuesday night. The Hawks, defending conference champions and a 2016 state tournament qualifier, appear to be hitting their stride as they stopped the Chargers 3-0. The two teams played in front of the largest crowd of the season, led by a enthusiastic and boisterous Charger student section.

An indication that W-G is a strong hitting team is reflected in the 35 successful kills out of 97 attack attempts it had against the Chargers. By contrast the Chargers were 19 out of 49 in the kill department, slightly above their season average of 17 kills per match. The Chargers edged out the Hawks in serving with a 90% efficiency rating compared to the Hawks' 88% rating.

With W-G leading 7-2 in the first set, the Chargers managed to stay close, tied the Hawks at 14-14, and trailed only 20-19 before W-G scored the last five points to win the set 25-19. Olivia Laabs was injured early in the set and had to go to the bench. She returned briefly in the third set to serve once, but had to return to the bench after her service. Laabs' presence was missed, as she leads the team in several categories, including total number of digs and ace serves.

With the score tied at 8-8 in set number two, W-G gradually pulled away to claim a 25-17 win. The Chargers battled hard in the third set, closing a nine point deficit to 23-19, but the Hawks closed out the set to win 25-19.

Coach Noe had this to say about the match. "Woodward-Grander was a good squad,. They served well and swung aggressively, and we struggled at times to make good passes to run our offense. When we were in system, we were tough and played well."

Makayla Hoing led the Chargers in kills with 8 out of 20 attempts, while she and Mady Smith led the team is serving, going 11 for 11 and 10 for 10 respectively. Savana Fuller recorded 3 ace serves on 10 of 13 serving. Fuller and Genevieve Hoover each had 13 digs, while Chelsea Larsen led in assists with 8. Jadeyn Carrick led in blocks with 3.

The loss drops the ACGC overall record to 14-7 and its conference mark to 3-3. W-G moves to 14-10 overall and 4-1 in WCAC play. The Chargers next action will be Tuesday, Oct. 3 at Earlham.

Line Score:

W-G 25 25 25

ACGC 19 17 19