The Rockford Rams topped Cedar Springs 0-3 in second round Districts action at Northview High School on Tuesday, November 4, bringing the Red Hawks season to a close. Rockford, ranked 10th in Division 1, claimed a 8-25, 12-25, 12-25 victory before going on to win Districts on Saturday.  Red Hawk Varsity volleyball ends the season 4-20 overall and 1-8 in conference.

 “It was a year of growth and development for our team and program in the midst of the pandemic,” said Varsity Coach Ashley Lowing. “Our girls handled themselves so well given the situation, worked hard, improved each match, and we are very proud of them for that. We look forward to getting to work in the off season and coming back strong next season.”

Senior Arianna Rau led the Red Hawks with 5 kills, 3 service points and 9 digs. Setter Makenna Outwin recorded 9 assists, 2 kills and an ace. Alyssa Detweiller added 4 kills and a block. Kennedi Jager tallied 2 kills and 4 digs. Brandy Singleton had 3 digs and a team high 15 serve receptions. Sophomore Courtney Page stepped up to add 4 digs, 7 serve receptions and an assist. 

Cedar Springs Varsity volleyball fell to the Knights of Kenowa Hills on Tuesday, October 20, in the second round of the OK Gold Conference Tournament. The Lady Red Hawks battled in the four-set match, losing 17-25; 25-27; 25-20; and 14-25, sending them in search of a sixth place finish in the final round of play at a home match on Tuesday, October 26 against Ottawa Hills. 

The Red Hawks also competed in the 9th Annual Hesperia Volley against Violence tournament on Saturday, October 24, at Fremont High School. In first round play, the Red Hawks lost to Kent City 18-25; 23-25; and 20-25. Second round play resulted in a 1-2 loss to Fremont (20-25; 20-25; 25-23). The final match of the tournament delivered a 3-0 victory versus Reed City (25-16; 25-16; 25-18). Two Cedar Springs athletes earned All Tournament Team recognition: middle hitter Arianna Rau and setter Makenna Outwin. 

“The girls played hard together to build great momentum heading into our last week of play and districts,” stated Varsity Coach Ashley Lowing. 

Senior middle hitter Arianna Rau led in weekly stats with 21 kills, 12 blocks,4 aces and 19 service points. Aaliyah Calkins added 18 kills and 24 digs. Setter Makenna Outwin had 93 assists, 5 blocks, and 7 aces, with a team high 33 service points. Kennedi Jager tallied 12 kills and 4 blocks, while Cassidy Canfield registered 16 kills and 7 blocks. Libero Elizabeth Fettig owned the defense, recording 45 digs and 117 serve receptions. Alyssa Detweiller contributed 16 kills and 6 blocks, while defensive specialist Isis Polczsk had 25 digs and 43 serve receptions.    

The JV team lost to Kenowa Hills on October 20th 12-25; 25-19; and 12-15, while freshmen earned the win over the Knights 25-21;12-25; 15-7.

Volleyball played at home Tuesday evening against Ottawa Hills. Varsity then travels to Kent City on Saturday, October 31 to compete in a Quad with host Kent City, Fremont and Comstock Park. Competition begins at 9 a.m. Volleyball Districts begin for the Lady Red Hawks on November 4 at 6:30 p.m. at Northview High School against the winner of the Northview/Rockford first round match.      

Cedar Springs Varsity Volleyball honored the contributions of its Seniors on Tuesday, October 6th at their final home match against the Kenowa Hills Knights. The Red Hawks took a conference loss in the hard fought match, falling 1-3 (25-18; 21-25; 22-25; 15-25) bringing their overall record to 2-11 and conference record to 1-6.

Leading on the night were seniors Aina Catala with 6 kills, 3 blocks, the team high 8 aces with 15 service points and 8 digs, while Cassidy Canfield recorded 7 kills and the team high 6 blocks, with 3 solo blocks. Middle hitter Arianna Rau recorded 5 kills while Libero Elizabeth Fettig tallied 21 digs, 37 service receives and 3 assists. Defensive Specialist Avery Peterson notched 12 serve receptions and 5 digs. Aaliyah Calkins led the night with kills, putting down 10 while earning 14 digs. Setter Makenna Outwin added 33 assists, 3 aces and 10 service points while Kennedi Jager had 6 kills and 5 digs.

“This year we graduate five seniors whose exceptional contributions, leadership and work ethic has personified the core philosophy and objectives of Cedar Springs Athletics while providing a solid foundation to build on our goals.” stated Varsity Coach Ashley Lowing.

Junior Varsity took the Knights to three, taking the loss 26-28, 18-25 and 15-17 after an outstanding 15-24 comeback in the first set deficit to win. The Freshman lost in a tight 22-25, 17-25 match.

This week begins the OK Gold Conference Tournament where the Red Hawks will travel to take on the #2 seed Grand Rapids Catholic Central. Competition begins with Freshman at 4pm, followed by JV and Varsity. Outcomes of these matches will determine the opponents and location for the second round of Tournament play on Tuesday, October 20. On Thursday, October 15, all levels travel to Greenville for a non-conference match.    

Cedar Springs Varsity Volleyball competed in two matches this week, suffering a 0-3 (25-27,12-25,20-25) loss to South Christian at home on Tuesday, September 29 and earning an away 3-0 (25-12; 25-7, 25-23) victory at Ottawa Hills on Thursday, October 1. The Lady Red Hawks are 2-10 overall and 1-5 in conference.

Leaders for the week include outside hitters Kennedi Jager (12 kills; 3 aces; 3 digs) and Aaliyah Calkins (13 kills;20 serve receptions). Senior middle Arianna Rau contributed 10 kills and 4 blocks. Setter Makenna Outwin tallied 43 assists and 7 aces with 17 service points.  Libero Elizabeth Fettig was solid at defense registering 18 digs and 40 serve receptions. Alyssa Detweiler logged 4 blocks and 6 aces. Defensive specialists Isis Polczsk (10 digs/17 serve receptions) and Avery Peterson (4 digs/3 serve receptions) held the back line while Chloe Fish rounded it out with a kill, 6 service points and 5 serve receptions. 

“As a team we have set one of our goals to be better today than we were yesterday,” said Coach Ashley Lowing. “The girls are working hard each day, resulting in great success at meeting that goal.” 

The Junior Varsity went 1-1 this week losing to South Christian (17-25;12-25) and beating Ottawa Hills (25-8;25-19). Red Hawk Freshman lost on Tuesday to South Christian (26-28; 25-18;4-15). 

This week, the Volleyball program competes in a home conference match against Kenowa Hills on Tuesday, October 6. This final home match will recognize the five seniors: Cassidy Canfield, Elizabeth Fettig, Avery Peterson, Arianna Rau, Aina Catala. Freshman start at 4pm, followed by JV and Varsity.  Next week has two away matches, the first at Forest Hills Eastern on Tuesday, October 13, then Greenville High School on October 15.  Matches begin at 5pm.

Cedar Springs Varsity Volleyball closed out their season with two conference matches, a tournament and District play. 

The Lady Red Hawks lost to Greenville 24-26, 18-25 and 24-26 at the final home conference match October 23, where junior Middle hitter Grace Pavelka dominated the night, putting up 14 kills on 30 attempts for a solid 37 percent kill percentage and 2 solo blocks, resulting in her third Player of the Match honor this season.  

On Thursday, October 25, they traveled to Forest Hills Northern where the Huskies took the win 11-25,17-25, 25-17 and 14-25. 

On Saturday, October 27, the team traveled to Central Montcalm for the Hornet Invite. They won their first two Pool Play matches before losing to Grant, landing them in the Gold Bracket, where they lost to Grant 12-25 and 15-25 resulting in a 4th place overall finish of 12 teams.

The Red Hawks hosted the first round of District Playoffs Monday evening, October 29, and took a tough loss to Greenville 21-25; 20-25 and 16-25. They ended the season with an overall record of 11-28-1 and conference record of 2-11. Leading on the night was Grace Pavelka with 6 kills, 3 blocks and 2 aces. Outside hitter Grace Wilcox recorded 5 kills and a block, while setter Madi Outwin added 22 assists. Arianna Rau tallied 5 kills and 2 blocks, while Kaylie Andres had 3 kills and a team high 15 serve receives. Kyla Andres recorded 14 digs and 4 kills, Haillie Jones put up 8 digs and 5 service points and Elizabeth Fettig added 8 serve receives.

“We worked hard this season to build a solid foundation for next year,” said Coach Ashley Lowing. “With all of our players returning, in addition to our upcoming talent, we look forward to putting in the work and growing as a team during the off season.”

The volleyball program will meet together Monday, November 12, to acknowledge all the accomplishments made this year for each team.