Oct. 1, 2022, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A balanced attack led the Grand Rapids Community College's volleyball team to two wins in day one of the annual Raider Challenge, extending the team's win streak to 12 matches.
GRCC faced two former Western Conference rivals: Kellogg Community College and Lansing Community College. For the eighth time this season the team came away with a sweep.
"I thought today I excelled in taking big swings at both in and out of system sets," Kara Hect said. "This helped me put more balls down. I also defended my heart out because it was our first outing on our home court. It was a good day. It was nice to finally play in our own gym, and of course it was nice to win both of our matchups."
In set two of the first match against Kellogg, GRCC had seven players compile at least one kill and six players with at least one assist.
For the match, nine players had at least one kill, led by Hecht, Karissa Ferry and Eliza Thelen all with seven. Eleven players had at least one dig with last week's Conference Defensive Player of the Week, Audrey Gower, leading the way with eight.
In match two, Hecht and Audrey Torres led the GRCC offensive attack with nine kills each, while the sophomore setter led the team with 22 assists and nine digs.
For the day, GRCC totaled 75 kills and hit a solid .294. They also had 18 aces and 13 blocks.
Hecht led all hitters with 16 kills with Torres, Thelen and Ferry each picking up 13.
GRCC, now 12-2 on the season, finishes out the Raider Challenge on Sunday with a 10 a.m. match against McHenry County College and a 4 p.m. match against Lake Michigan College.