The Greene County High School volleyball tournament was Saturday inside the high school gym in Jefferson. Coach Chris Heisterkamp’s Rams finished second in their four team pool and advanced to the semifinals where they were eliminated. The Rams went 2-2 in matches and 4-4 in sets and  the season record is 10-11 in matches and 24-25 in sets.

Each team played three matches in pool play, best two of three sets to 21 points per set with the Rams going 2-1, starting with a 2-0 win vs. ACGC. Next up was Carroll High and Greene County won that in two sets before losing in two sets to Van Meter. Carlisle, ranked ninth in Class 4A, was a winner in two sets 18-21, 10-21 vs. the Rams in the semifinals.

Greene County led ACGC 15-14, then pulled away for a 21-16 first set victory. In set two, the Rams never trailed and won 21-14.

The match vs. Carroll saw the Rams with an 8-0 run in set one to overcome an early 2-6 deficit. Sophomore Bellah Johnson served the last seven points of that run, collecting four ace serves among the seven points. The second set vs. the Tigers saw the Rams trail 10-18, then scored 11 of the last 12 points to win the set and match in what was one of the bigger late set comebacks in some time.

The Rams lost to VM 17-21 and 19-21 and the Bulldogs had runs of eight unanswered points in both sets. VM, a 3A program, upset Carlisle in three sets to win the team title.

Coach Heisterkamp told Raccoon Valley Radio, “We had a fantastic start to the day.The win over Carroll was especially exciting after fighting our way back from a huge deficit. I saw improvement in areas that we focused on in recent practices. It’s good to see continued progress.”

The the eight sets on Saturday, unior Lila Osterseon led the team in kills with 21, followed by seniors Emma Shipley 17, Emma Ewalt 13, Ella Shipley 4, and Payton Kokenge 3. The Rams had a successful serving percentage of 86% with senior Hailey Carman at 100% and Johnson at 92%. Johnson and senior Violet Reedy each had six ace serves for the tournament. Johnson led the Rams in digs with 35, followed by Carman at 28 and Ewalt with 19.