Zeeland East High School

The Chix headed to Hudsonville to face off with the Unity Christian Crusaders in their second conference matchups of the season. Freshman and JV teams both staged comebacks in their matches, but fell short to some quality Crusader teams. Varsity started the match a bit slow and fell behind in the first dozen points of the match, but found their footing behind some tremendous serving by senior libero, Oli Valenzuela, and offensive/defensive production from senior middle, Bri Cole. That effort was further supported by another senior, OH/DS Camille Louwerse who brought tenacious energy with her onto the court for several huge plays that helped secure a first set 25-12 win. Things settled a bit in the second set, but the Chix took the win, again, 25-21. Junior middle Lily Huizenga stepped up in serve and defensively in the back row at several points to give the Chix much needed aggression from the back line and carried that momentum with her into the front row with strong net presence all night long. The third set saw Zeeland East put the pedal down once again and they charged to a 25-16 victory to close out the night. Junior setter, Kyla Kuiper, had a highlight set from deep in the back row across court to senior outside, Lizzie Risdon, for a stunning kill delivered with perfection. Risdon celebrated her birthday with 13 kills and now sits less than 60 away from the 1000-kill mark with a game against Spring Lake on Thursday and the Grand Haven tournament this Saturday. Risdon is on track to top the millennium mark this weekend or when the Chix head to Holland Christian next Tuesday. The Chix broke it down, celebrated with several youth players watching in the front row of the bleachers and ended the night thanking our officials for their efforts.