Riverside VB Wins Hard-Fought Straight-Set Victory over Mo Valley

Riverside's Vivian Gross & Lilli Reed (9-24-26)

Riverside VB Wins Hard-Fought Straight-Set Victory over Mo Valley –

(9-24-26) – Both teams threw haymakers early, but Dawgs ran wild to earn the win.

Vivian Gross had 11 kills as Riverside won in straight-sets, 25-23, 25-13, 25-21. The match featured an incredible 1st set where both teams made incredible saves to keep the point alive and saw the Lady Dawgs score 6 consecutive points to take the lead late.

Gross was being fed towards the latter part of the set, as Riverside looked to exploit the matchup in the middle. Gross says communication was key to her hot start in the contest.

“(Sophia Fenner) does really good. Our back row, it's really set up nice. So, pass middle, middle, Ashley (Kelley)'s always there. I'm always talking with Ashley, over communicating and just talking with all my other hitters and making sure I'm where I'm supposed to be.”

Fenner, the senior libero for the Lady Dawgs, went all out, as usual, earning 22 digs on the evening. She was diving to keep points alive, even running towards the stands and running into a railing in the 1st set to make a save. Her positioning was key to limiting the Lady Reds on getting points and expanding their lead in the opening set. Fenner’s play even surprises her teammates.

“She just reads the ball so well,” said Lilli Reed, who also had 11 kills for Riverside. “I don't know how she does it. She'll be flying across the court and I'll just see her coming out of nowhere taking balls and then it's a dime. Like I just don't know how she does it. It's so nice to have someone you know you can count on and she's just such a great back girl player.”

The back-and-forth opening set against Missouri Valley forced Riverside to refocus and they were able to dominate Set 2. Reed says her and her teammates used the 1st set as inspiration for better play.

“After that first set, I was just thinking come out into the second set, it kind of lit a fire underneath of us and kind of put us in that go get a mentality of ‘Next ball, go score, gritty defense.’”

Reed would get 10 of her 11 kills in the final two sets of the match. Riverside had 5 different players with at least 6 kills. The Lady Dawgs have lost just one set on the season.

Dilynn Myler had 12 kills and Khloee Stoops had 8 for the Lady Reds, who’ve now lost three straight.

Gross says the Lady Dawgs are on a mission to continue their winning ways deeper into the season after losing in the regionals finals last year.

“Our team motto right now is to be in the moment. So we just want to be where our feet are and be in the point, like every set of the game, just like staying in that moment, not thinking about the past or the future, just focusing on where we're at.”

Riverside had 5 different players with at least 6 kills to remain undefeated on the season at 15-0.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats