Rapids volleyball sweeps North Branch to open season

Grand Rapids 3, North Branch 0

25-19, 25-19, 25-19

NORTH BRANCH — It was the first time in four years that the Thunderhawks took down North Branch in an early season game, and they made it a clean sweep, taking all three matches 25-19 on the Vikings’ home court.

Grand Rapids starts the season 1-0 and got major offensive and defensive contributions all throughout the lineup, starting with Adrienne Venditto’s 16 kills.

“She lit it up,” said head coach Bekah Sutherland.

Venditto was strong on her own end as well with six digs, but libero Hannah Clarke was the defensive leader in that category with 20 digs for the Thunderhawks.

Lainie Barrick added nine kills and five blocks and Annika Grose added two kills and four blocks but her night was highlighted by her ace to seal the final game for the Orange and Black.

As good as Grand Rapids was defensively, North Branch was unable to find any type of momentum on their home court. Sutherland credited her players’ execution for that performance in the win.

“We were good defensively. We played our defense to a T.”

But what stood out most to Sutherland was the midseason form her players seem to be showing already to start the year.

As a team, in the past, it’s taken us like 10 games to not make a lot of errors, and we did not make a lot of errors yesterday,” she said.

The 1-0 Thunderhawks will look to continue their early-season momentum this Thursday, as they return to their own court for the first time in nine months. They host Superior for their home opener in Grand Rapids, at 7 p.m.