BURTON—Cardinal spotted second-seeded Grand Valley nine points in the first set and six in the second as the Huskies saw their season come to an end in a 3-1 loss to the Mustangs on Wednesday in a Division III district semifinal at Berkshire High School.
Grand Valley won the first set, 25-13, and the second, 25-20, before the Huskies made it interesting. Cardinal won the third set, 25-23, but fell in the fourth, 25-16.
“I don’t know if we were nervous coming in, but we played them early in the season in a tri and we played them all summer long in our summer league, so I thought it was very evenly matched,” said Cardinal coach Karisca Chambers. “I just think we got ourselves into such a hole in the first and second games that we had to dig our way out. We struggled to do so because then our mental game goes away once our physical game starts to fall.”
After dropping the first two sets, the Huskies rallied together in an attempt to extend their season.
“When we talked in the huddle, I said, ‘This is it, if we’re not going out swinging and going all out then why are we here?’” Chambers said. “I think that really opened the girls’ eyes to this could be the last game of the season, why not give it everything they have. We started playing some good volleyball and we were attacking the ball. I think the girls did a nice job toward the end of fighting back. It just didn’t go our way tonight.”
Cardinal closed out its season with a 15-9 record.
