Zeeland East High School

The Chix opened their conference schedule by welcoming Holland High School to the Coop. The night marked another kickoff of sorts as well, the inaugural Zeeland East Volleyball Youth Night. The evening was complete with fun events for the kids ranging from a photobooth to t-shirt tosses to fun items to dress up and cheer for the Chix. JV and Freshman teams both got the night rolling and after close first set wins on both courts, the squads locked in and roared to comfortable second set victories. Players of the Game for JV and Freshman, respectively, were sophomore opposite, Kassidy Kragt, and freshman middle, Holly Morley. Both players displayed tremendous tenacity for their teams and helped set a tone going into the varsity match. Before the varsity match, every player and coach in the program wrote a letter for a visitor in the youth section. JV and Freshman teams handed theirs out at the conclusion of their match and varsity selected partners to join them for the national anthem and player announcements before giving them their letter. The Chix rode the youthful exuberance in the gym to back-to-back 25-12 set wins before picking up the pace and going on a 18-1 run in the third set to finish it 25-3. Junior setter, Kyla Kuipers, finished the night with an astonishing 10 aces. Junior opposite, Ava Geerlings, netted an impressive 6 kills on 9 total attacks as well as 4 digs to earn Player of the Game honors for the varsity match. Immediately following the match, the varsity squad shook hands, ran to celebrate with the youth section and concluded competition by showing gratitude for the officials that weathered a brutally hot and humid gym environment, while performing exceptionally well as a crew. The varsity squad and Coach Bastianelli then took to the tables to sign mini volleyballs, team prints, t-shirts, phone cases and more than a few arms. About two dozen girls also left the Coop with a volleyball to take home and begin training toward their own future with the Chix. The Chix finish the week with practice before their first road test of the conference slate against Unity Christian next Tuesday.