Despite a rough start, leadership of freshmen co-captain Kelsey Toole led the Freshmen Volleyball team to a 2-0 sweep over the Greenville Yellow Jackets.

“The beginning was pretty rough, but we talked and got better as the game went on,” Kelsey said. “We needed to talk; we ran into each other a lot. After that, we started talking and supporting each other, and we did a lot better. We hustled and had some good hits.”

After falling behind five points in the opening set, Kelsey took over from the libero position. After a couple of touches and key defensive plays, the Rangers ran with a 9-1 scoring streak and pulled the score back to within one. Freshman Mandy Ehrlich had a huge point to tie it for the Rangers, and shifted the momentum 180 degrees.

The Rangers then shined through behind their two co-captains, Kelsey, and freshmen Megan Raisch.

“We served really well, and we had a solid defense,” Megan said. “I think we still need work on getting things out of the net, but I think we recovered really well in the second game. I think we came out stronger and more unified as a team. We definitely have started to trust each other more.”

The Rangers held strong to win the first set 25-18. The second set was all FHC. After jumping out to a 9-2 lead, the Rangers forced a quick timeout.

Megan and freshmen Bryn Yoder both came through with big points to keep the Rangers on top. In the middle of the set, the Rangers were showing signs of weakness with unforced errors. Freshman Jessica Hurbanis and Mandy Ehrlich came through yet again, keeping the lead.

The Rangers would go on to win the second set 25-19. FHC moves on next week to face a tough FHN opponent, sitting at second in the conference. Head coach Gretchen McDonald knows the significance of the game coming up against the district rival.

“It was nice to see the girls working together, playing together,” McDonald said. “The girls are coming together. We have a big game against Northern next week that the girls really want to win, so they’re working for that.”