Had BCLUW (15-9, 4-1) come away with the win, the Comets would have secured a share of the conference title.

“All we talked about was that we didn’t need to do anything that unusual, we just had to do everything well,” Comet head coach Kristin Garber said. “We just had to execute and pass well. Our hitters had to find the court and find the court hard. We knew that we couldn’t score a lot of points on tips and rolls. We really needed to get our swing going.”

In the first set, the two teams were tied at 14-14 but the Spartans went on a 7-0 run to take a 21-14 lead. The Comets responded with a 5-1 run to cut the deficit to 22-19 but BCLUW committed several errors that secured the win for Grundy Center.

In the second set, Grundy Center (22-3, 4-0) led 5-4 and broke away with a 13-1 run.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE - BCLUW’s Eden Wilson, right, goes up for the attack against Grundy Center’s Claire Verly (2) during Thursday’s NICL West Division showdown in Conrad.

BCLUW battled back in Set 3 and took an 8-4 lead. However, the Spartans responded and tied the set at 11-11. The two teams traded points until Grundy Center took a 22-17 lead with a 5-0 run. The Comets answered back with a 6-0 run to tie the set a 23-23. Despite the late comeback, Grundy Center held off BCLUW to win the set and match.

“I thought the night started off pretty well and I thought we competed well in Games 1 and 3,” Garber said. “Obviously, Game 2 was a shutdown. We didn’t pass well at all so we couldn’t get anything going. Games 1 and 3, I thought we competed well. I felt like we were mentally into Games 1 and 3 and I felt like we were trying to do all things that we had been talking about in preparation for this match and really in preparation for the whole season.”

According to Garber, the strong point on the Comets’ night was in their blocking which was something that BCLUW had emphasized in preparation for Grundy Center’s hitters.

The Comets had six blocks with Madison Ubben leading the team with three total blocks while Lizzie Garber had one.

“I’m pretty confident with our block,” coach Garber said. “We’ve got some good blocks. I thought we got a couple of key blocks that gave us some momentum and kept us in and plus we got a lot of touches that let us keep playing. They are a tough team to block because they can get up in the air and turn wherever they want and that’s tough to block. Honestly, I thought our block was good tonight. We did work on it quite a bit in preparation for this knowing that we were going to need it

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

“They are good. They are a good team. They have got a lot of girls that can hit the ball hard. They did that and found the court a lot of times. That’s their forte.”

Leading BCLUW in kills was Kennedy Williams who had five kills. Ubben also had 12 digs and three kills on the night. Jade Hammers also posted 12 digs to go with her three kills and Allison Engle led the team with 11 assists.

Grundy Center will have a chance to lock up the regular-season title for its 11th consecutive time by having to win its next two conference games.

“We have got a choice to make,” Garber said. “We can get let this get us down and be bummed about it or we can say look we compete and when we compete hard we can compete with anybody. Going forward we have a lot of tough competition on Saturday and next Saturday. Of course, we’ve got West Marshall next week. We need to mentally stay up and be ready to compete.”

BCLUW will return to action in the Columbus Catholic tournament and will open against North Fayette Valley.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE