ORWELL — If there was one significant difference between the Grand Valley and Saint John volleyball teams, it may have been their experience in five-set matches.
The Heralds had played in one, the Mustangs had not this season.
Last week, Saint John lost in five sets to Cardinal 24-26, 17-25, 25-16, 25-19, 10-15 recently.
On Thursday night, the Heralds fell behind 2-0 at GV, but stormed back to take the match 18-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 15-12 in a Northeastern Athletic Conference volleyball match that lasted nearly three hours at GVHS.
“It was a really good match,” Saint John coach Sarah Howe said. “GV is a great program, Abby [Crooks] is doing a great job bringing them along, so it was great to have a nice competitive match against them.
“I told our girls that they play five sets at the varsity level for a reason, and they turned it around in the third set.”
The Heralds’ front line tandem of senior Marissa Williams and freshman Sophia Kemmer made their presence felt in the third set as the momentum began to sway towards the visitors.
GV won the first two sets 25-18, 25-23, before Saint John snared the third on 25-20.
In the fourth set, GV fell behind early, but battled back to within a point at 11-10 on a kill by Rogers.
The Heralds’ front line, though, took over again and Saint John pulled away for the win.
The fifth set was tied at 11 when Isabella Holler found the floor with back-to-back hits.
Rylee Rogers was long on a hit to make it 14-11, then Raegan Williams had her volley land just out of bounds to end the match.
For Crooks, it was a disappointing finish, but great experience to see her team compete in.
“It was huge,” she said. “That was our first five-set match of the season, so I think that was important for us right before the tournament, just to test our endurance, since we typically run with six players.
“It was good for me to see if they could push through that and still compete, and I thought they did.”
Marissa Williams had two kills and a block for a point as part of a 6-1 run in the third set that allowed Saint John to get back in the match.
“Defense has always been our bread and butter,” Howe said. “Because of them, we were finally able to get our middles going, and that was huge for us.”
For Saint John, Sara Ducro had 19 points and three aces. Emma Hutchins led the way in kills at 17.
Lillianna Mather and Breelynn Graham each recorded 15, Williams posted eight blocks and Alexa Jordan added 61 digs.
With the win, Saint John improved to 17-3 overall and 15-1 in the NAC. They’ll play Cardinal Monday night in a rematch with the only conference school to beat them this season.
GV dropped to 15-5 overall, 12-4 in conference. They will be at Pymatuning Valley next Monday.
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