The Grain Valley seniors finally saw their hard work pay off Thursday night.
Senior Whitney Broughton totaled 20 assists and senior Olivia Olivarez had 25 digs as Grain Valley outlasted Excelsior Springs 25-17, 12-25, 25-21 on Senior Night to claim the first volleyball conference title in school history.
“I’m just very excited for our program,” Eagles coach Keri Peterson said. “We (the coaches) came here three years ago and began a process. And these girls have worked so hard over those three years, and they finally saw all that hard work during the season and the offseason pay off. And they get to be the first ones to get on the board (on the Grain Valley gym wall as conference champions). It’s very exciting.”
That sent seniors Broughton, Olivarez, Paige Mead, Hannah South and Kim McBride out with a win in their home-court finale.
Lauren Readshaw led in hitting with nine kills as the Eagles finished 8-2 in the conference to edge Excelsior Springs (7-3). Grain Valley (20-7-3) is the No. 1 seed at next week’s Class 3 District 15 Tournament at Excelsior Springs.
The Grain Valley junior varsity also won in three games.
BELTON 25-25, FORT OSAGE 22-16: Fort Osage concluded regular season play with a Suburban Middle Six loss to host Belton.
“We played well in the first game,” Fort Osage coach Sean Barrett said. “We had 17 digs. But they played well also. We made some big mistakes in the second game.”
Setoa Talimatasi had five kills and Chelsea Turnham totaled eight digs to lead the Indians (9-15-3, 5-5 Middle Six).
HARRISONVILLE 25-25, OAK GROVE 20-21: Oak Grove couldn’t maintain the momentum in a Missouri River Valley Conference West Division loss to visiting Harrisonville.
“We had the lead in the second game,” Oak Grove coach Amber Evans said. “But we let them sneak back in and we couldn’t get back in the game.”
Britney Grittman had six kills and 3.5 blocks and Niki Baxter tallied 13 assists as Oak Grove (2-22-2, 0-10 MRVC West) concluded regular season play.
Harrisonville was a 25-18, 25-18 junior varsity winner.
LINCOLN PREP 25-25, VAN HORN 15-10: Van Horn dropped to 15-7 overall with a non-conference loss at Lincoln Prep Thursday,
