Coach Donna Carhill’s Greene County High School volleyball team opened the 2016 season at Saydel High School in Des Moines on Tuesday night with a victory over Saydel and a loss to Class 3A ninth ranked Gilbert. Gilbert also defeated Saydel in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference triangular.

Greene County topped the Eagles in the minimum three sets by scores of 25-22, 25-7, 25-6, before the Rams lost to the Tigers in three by scores of 11-25, 21-25, 23-25.

The Rams trailed Saydel in the first set 12-16 before putting on a rally to win. Greene County overcame seven service errors in the set. Hannah Promes and Hannah Stein had ace serves in that set. The last two sets were all Rams. With Promes serving, the Rams jumped out to a 7-0 lead, and with Megan Durbin at the serve the Rams later increased the lead to 15-1 with seven straight points again. Durbin had four ace serve in set two with three by Nadia Fisher and two from Promes. With Emily Heupel serving in the third set the Rams ran off eight straight points for an early 10-1 advantage. Heupel and Promes had aces and the Rams scored 10 of the last 11 points to close out the match.

Gilbert ran out to a lead of 11-2 in set one and the Rams were never able to get close. Greene County was down 8-14 in set two, then came to within two points at 20-22 before the Tigers won by four points. Fisher had an ace in that set. Set three was the most competitive from a Greene County standpoint. Heupel and Promes each had two service aces with one from Kenna Marquardt. The Rams were down 17-21, but rallied for a 23-22 lead on a Promes ace serve before the Tigers roared to the victory by scoring the last three points.

Next up for the Rams is the Sept. 3 South Central Calhoun Tournament in Lake City.