The Grand Rapids Christian Eagles volleyball team hit the road for a high-stakes Division 2 showdown at Holland Christian High School, facing off against two of the state's top-ranked teams.

The Eagles opened the night with a dominant 2-0 sweep of rival South Christian, winning convincingly with set scores of 25-14 and 25-15. Grace Goodyke led the offensive charge with 14 kills, going nearly untouched, South managed to dig her just once in her 18 attempts. Goodyke also contributed a 2.7 passing average (out of 3) and added 2 aces.

Defensively, Zoey Klunder was all over the court with 9 digs and adding 2 aces, while Sylvia Setsma came up big at the net with 2 key blocks to slow the Sailors' offense.

In the second match of the night, the Eagles faced No. 4-ranked Holland Christian. After a slow start and a narrow 26-28 loss in the first set, the Eagles bounced back strong. They took the second set 25-22 and closed out the match with a commanding 25-17 win in the third, earning a 2-1 match victory.

Offensive firepower fueled the comeback, with the Eagles racking up 37 kills and an impressive team hitting percentage of .460. Grace Goodyke and Mya McKinnon were nearly unstoppable at the net, combining for 30 kills and hitting over .500. Taylor Frost ran the offense smoothly with 21 assists followed by Piper Cebulski, Cebulski also added 5 aces and several strong serving runs to close out the game. 

With these two key wins, the Eagles improve to 5-2 on the season and will head to the Rockford Rumble this Saturday, September 6, where they’ll face more of the state's top competition.