Seeing their freshmen and junior varsity counterparts win their matches in two sets, Jamie Ridenhour’s varsity Dutchgirl volleyball team looked to complete a Monday night sweep of Linn in the season opener for both teams at Owensville High School.

Trailing 11-6 in the third set, Dutchgirl senior Grace McFalls served the final 19 points of the match giving Owensville a three-set victory over Linn, 25-11, 25-8 and 25-11.

“I thought all three teams played really well tonight,” Ridenhour said. “We were solid serving and I thought our defense was spot on.”

Game one saw McFalls serve the Dutchgirls to a quick 4-0 lead after a Keira Hendrix kill.

Seeing Linn creek to within a point at 4-3, a Haley Coello kill put senior Taylor McClure behind the service line with a 5-3 lead.

McClure served the next two points giving Owensville a 7-3 lead.

Splitting the next four points, Emily McKinney served two points pushing the OHS lead to 12-5 near the midway point of the first set.

A Josie Gerlemann kill gave the Dutchgirls a 13-6 lead sending Kyla Hendrix into serving duty.

Scoring the next three points, Kyla helped Owensville to a 16-6 advantage on their home court.

Trading points with Linn, it was time for Olivia Vandegriffe to take her turn behind the serving line.

Serving the next four points, Vandegriffe gave OHS a 21-7 lead with four points separating them from taking the first set of the match.

Like the start of the set, McFalls served the final three points giving Owensville the first set 25-11 in the best three-out-of-five match.

Trailing 6-3 early in game two, another Gerlemann kill sent Kyla Hendrix back into serving duty.

Helping the Dutchgirls score the next three points, OHS found themselves leading 7-6.

After an attack error tied game two at 7-7, a Linn service error gave the Dutchgirls an 8-7 lead and serving duties to Vandegriffe.

Recording two aces over the next six points, Vandegriffe helped OHS to a 15-7 lead midway through game two.

Now leading 15-8, another kill from Coello sent McFalls back behind the service line.

Netting three aces of her own, McFalls served out the second set giving the Dutchgirls a two sets to none lead in the varsity match.

Looking to force a fourth set, Linn appeared on their to that taking an 11-5 lead in game three.

However, a Linn service error sent McFalls back to her home for the majority of the match.

Staying hot like she was throughout the night, the Dutchgirl senior served the final 19 points of the third set giving Owensville the victory in three sets over Linn.

“Grace had a solid night serving the ball for us,” Ridenhour said. “I feel like if we compete like we’re capable of, we’ll be tough to beat.”

JV Dutchgirls vs. Linn

Trailing early 2-0 in the first set, a Linn service error followed by nine straight Ally Gooch service points gave Owensville a 10-2 lead.

From there, the Dutchgirls never trailed again winning the junior varsity match in two sets 25-7 and 25-6.

After Gooch’s run of nine consecutive points, Harley Pyrtle scored three in a row before Drew Copeland served the final two points of the first set.

Gooch served the first five points of game two giving way to six-point runs each from Pyrtle and Avery Bastunas.

9th Dutchgirls vs. Linn

In a carbon copy of the junior varsity match, Taylor Payne’s Dutchgirl freshmen trailed Linn 1-0 in game one before four aces from McKenzy Echols gave Owensville a 5-1 lead.

From there, they never trailed in the match that they won in two sets, 25-6 and 25-5.

Payton Harness (2), McKenna Edwards (3) and Hannah Stoker (2) also recorded multiple aces in the first set.

Anya Binkhoelter had two aces in each set giving her four aces for the match against the Lady Wildcats.