GARFIELD SETS UP BATTLE FOR FIRST PLACE

GARRETTSVILLE OH-

In what was the fifth conference battle of the year Tuesday night for The Garrettsville Garfield Lady G-Men. This time, it was The Newton Falls Lady Tigers coming to town for their first matchup of the season.

A competitive first set saw plenty of back and forth, starting out with Garfield grabbing an early advantage. However, like many Newton Falls teams of the past, they come prepared and ready to fight. The Tigers were able to respond with a run of their own, capitalizing on serving errors from The Lady G-Men. A resilient Garfield team was able to withstand the comeback effort in Set 1, emerging victorious in a 4 point win.

By Set 2, Garrettsville looked to repeat their start from the previous set, and did so in another emphatic way. Grabbing another early lead and protecting it through several comeback efforts from Newton Falls, allowing Garfield to grab a crucial set lead on The Tigers 2-0.

Set 3 was a change of pace, as Newton Falls refused to fall in straight sets, flipping the script by grabbing an early, commanding advantage on The Lady G-Men in Set 3. Garrettsville attempted to draw the game back to even, but The Tigers capitalized on the errors in the set and eventually came away with the win 25-17.

Their first set loss against a conference opponent this season woke up The Lady G-Men, as they played with a new level of focus and were incredibly sharp in Set 4. Playing with determination, Garfield got the Set 4 win by 16 points to close out another conference win!Gabby Barnard turned the amp to eleven and her swings were loud in the later sets, getting the double-double in Kills and Digs to earn herself a Play of the Game nod.

The loss will send Newton Falls (1-5) back home, where they will welcome in The Warren JFK Eagles (2-3) on Wednesday, September 7th. Garfield (6-1) will take their undefeated conference record against a team who has never lost an MVAC match, as they will travel to Crestview (5-0) to take on The Lady Rebels on Thursday, September 8th.

Set Scores

S1: Garfield 25 – 21 Newton Falls

S2: Garfield 25 – 19 Newton Falls

S3: Newton Falls 25 – 17 Garfield

S4: Garfield 25 – 9 Newton Falls

Match: Garfield 3 – 1 Newton Falls

Stats (Garrettsville Garfield)

Gabby Barnard: 14 Kills, 26 Digs, 66.7 Kill %, .524 Hit %. (Player of the Game)

Mandy Cardinal: 10 Kills, 1 Block, 2 Digs.

Hannah Kernig: 9 Kills, 4 Aces, 1 Block, 6 Digs.

Madeline Shirkey: 6 Kills, 1 Ace, 1 Block, 16 Digs, 27 Assists.

Montana McGranahan: 4 Kills, 4 Aces, 26 Digs, 2 Assists.