Grove City — The Grove City Christian Eagles have one goal driving them this season: a conference championship. It’s a milestone that has eluded the program, with no banner yet hanging in the gym.
“We’ve never hung a banner and that’s what our goal is,” GCCS Coach Joe Bradford said. “Fisher Catholic is sitting alone at the top and no one is going to catch them unless it is us.”
On Thursday, the Eagles inched closer to that vision with a straight-set sweep of Fairfield Christian Academy, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22. The win lifted Grove City Christian to 5-1 in conference play, just a game back of Fisher Catholic in the standings.
It’s a strong position for a team fueled by youth and defense. Freshman Laney Lytle and sophomore Sadie Sisk have emerged as key contributors, ranking among the team’s leaders in digs and kills, respectively.
Against Fairfield, Kinsey Hovance powered the offense with 14 kills, while Riese Braunm added 12. On the defensive side, Natalie Bailey tallied 19 digs, and Lydia Lee set the tone with 34 assists.
This was an improved performance for the Eagles, who have found themselves buried in errors over the past couple of games.
“We’ve been in the negative with more errors than kills the last couple of matches,” Coach Bradford explained. “We took a good step tonight. Kinsey and Riese both were in double digits, but we really overcame that first set where we had eight hitting errors.”
Closing out the first half of conference play on Tuesday with Millersport, the rematch with Fisher Catholic looms in just 11 days. To keep them focused, Bradford says it is a mental game and keeping in mind what the goal is.
“Our top goal is to win league and we have to focus on that,” he says. “We have to get better offensively. We should have our full roster back and healthy for it. We have great leadership and are excited to take on this next part of the schedule.”
Grove City Christian (9-3, 5-1) visit Millersport on Tuesday and host Harvest Prep on Thursday.
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