The pre-season favorite to win the Midwest Collegiate Conference opened their non-conference season in Forest City, Iowa against Valley City State. Grand View wasted little time defeating the Vikings of Valley City State in three straight games on Friday night (25-20, 25-13, 25-15).
Picking up right where she left off last season, sophomore Devon Jensen (Underwood, IA) finished the match with 16 kills. Last season, Jensen was honored with MCC Player of the Year honors after leading the conference in total kills and kills per game.
Fellow sophomore Sydney Stickrod (Carroll, IA) teamed up with Jensen on the front line, picking up six kills of her own. Also tallying six kills for the Vikings of Grand View University was senior Megan Higgins (Council Bluffs, IA). Higgins, a Dana College transfer, provided a spark in her first match as a Viking.
Filling the shoes of last season's all-conference setter Ashtyn Neill is no easy task, but freshman Paige Harris was more than spectacular in her first match. Harris (Clive, IA) finished with a match-high 34 assists and four kills.
Head coach Tina Carter, last season's MCC Coach of the Year, felt Harris exceeded expectations in her first match as a Viking. "Our passing was excellent and it allowed Paige (Harris) to run a great offense. Harris did a great job of giving our hitters a lot of one-on-one situations."
Carter also felt that the Vikings were solid in their service game and was pleased with the overall performance.
"I thought we played very well especially for our first match. Overall I was pleased with the outcome and felt like we did a great job serving tonight. We kept them on the run most of the match due to our tough serves," added Carter.
The Vikings (1-0, 0-0) will be off until next weekend when they host the Grand View Tournament on August 27th and 28th. The Vikings will play two games on Friday and two games on Saturday.
