The Lady Grizzlies hosted their last home volleyball game for the season on Wednesday, October 24. An intense four matches against the Tulare Western Lady Mustangs were played, but the Lady Grizzlies fell to Tulare Union.  

A Granite Hills tradition at the last home game is to start and to play all of the seniors for the first match. But, before the game, athletic director, Rich Rankin introduced all of the players. After being introduced to all present, the girls found their loved ones in the bleachers and delivered a single red rose.

Seniors Sarah Blackburn, Angela Rispoli, Emmy Lou Dowling, Sylvia Ramirez, Sam Orosco, and Wendy Champaneung stepped onto the court ready to play their last home game as a Lady Grizzly. The game started off intense as both teams tried to move the ball around the middle of the court.. Tulare Western's Laura Lopez kicked things off with serves that through Granite off balance as they took a four point lead. Setter Blackburn shook things up when she had a quick set that then through off Lady Mustangs Katie Tomcak and Mackenzie Mendonca. Granite Hills battled back making the score 9-7, Lady Grizzlies behind. Natalie Garcia came in and within minutes was diving on the floor trying to make good passes. The Lady Mustangs front row was a constant threat as their outsider hitters pounded the ball making the score. 11-7. The rest of the first match was rocky, as the Lady Grizzlies fell to the Lady Mustangs at 25-17.

Starters for the second game were Emmy Lou Dowling, Angela Rispoli, Sarah Blackburn, Sylvia Ramirez,, Sam Orosco, and Jennifer Landers. The second match had a rocky start for the Lady Grizzlies as the quickly had to battle up with the score at 5-2. One of the senior leaders, Blackburn played excellent backrow, along with Ramirez who had two digs. This made the score 10-16, Lady Grizzlies down. Sophomore setter, Jennifer Landers helped with her hard serves and earned Granite another point. The Lady Mustangs managed to rally up and keep a lead on Granite, 23-10. Lady Mustangs outside hitters Chere Guerrera and Sarah King kept the Lady Grizzlies on point as they hit corners and gap on the court. Although the Lady Grizzlies played good defense the Lady Mustangs came out ahead, 25-10.

In the third game the starting line up stayed the same for the Lady Grizzlies. Right off the back the Lady Grizzlies had a three point lead and tried to keep it that way. With outside hitters Rispoli and Blackburn, they managed to knock the Lady Mustangs off balance and get two kills. This made the score 19-12, Lady Grizzlies up. It was Granite's ball and senior Blackburn was up to serve; she served with ease and earned the Lady Grizzlies three points. With the help of Dowling placing the ball in mid front row the girls were able to earn the game point. A block by Ramirez, Dowling, and Orosco was put down making the final score 25-16, Lady Grizzlies take a win.

Coach Clair and Lambie pumped the girls up with a prep talk on working together as a team. The Lady Grizzlies and the Lady Mustangs stepped on the court; both wanting victory. The crowd was on their feet as the Lady Mustangs and Lady Grizzlies rallied together and played strong offensive. Tulare managed to take the leasand was up 7-2. Barragon and Garcia came into the game playing backrow and were set to make excellent passes to Landers. Granite finally calls a time-out with the score at 15-7, Tulare Western up. After the time-out Granite's defense began to struggle, but with the help of Rispoli having a shoot in the backrow she gave Granite another point, 21-9. One of Tulare Western's outside hitter, Hannah Cardoza began hitting line and made Granite's defense work harder than ever. Even though the Lady Grizzlies fought hard for victory, they came up short and the Lady Mustangs took the win, 25-11.
"It was my last home game as a Lady Grizzly and I really wanted to win, but I think we played really hard in the last two games," said Ramirez.

Rispoli ended her last home game as a Lady Grizzly with six kills and one assist. Dowling and Landers had four kills, while Ramirez had three Senior Burrough ended the night with two block, Dowling and Ramirez with one block. As for sophomore setter Landers, she had eight kills in the three games she played in.
Freshman girls fell to Tulare Western in two games, but junior varsity took them in three games and came out on top. The Lady Grizzlies face off cross-town rivals Porterville Panthers on Monday, October 29, at Porterville High. This is Granite's last game for the season and anyone is encourage to come and cheer on the Grizzlies!