GRUNDY CENTER – Darwin Sents believes there’s a target on his team’s back.

That’s what six straight conference titles and four consecutive state tournament appearances will do.

Though the Spartan head coach has only seen it fuel his team so far, including a trio of wins over ranked foes. Not letting off the gas Tuesday, the Class 2A No. 5 Spartans continued their fast start by sweeping rival Gladbrook-Reinbeck 25-14, 25-18, 25-13 in North Iowa Cedar League West Division play.

Kayla Mathews tallied 10 kills and Hana Edgerton had eight as the Spartans (5-0, 1-0) claimed their 34th straight win in league play.

Katie Lindeman served 19-of-22 with three aces, while Alyssa Mathews dished out 32 assists and reigning T-R All-Area Player of the Year Riley Sents had 15 digs at libero.

“The whole conference is kind of a grind, you’ve got to show up night in and night out,” Spartans coach Darwin Sents said. “You’re going to get the other team’s best shot, we’ve got kind of a target on our back. We just have to step up to that challenge night in and night out.”

Grundy Center rose to that challenge with extended runs in each set to create some cushion against the Rebels (1-1, 0-1), who were coming off a three-game sweep of No. 13 Jesup on Thursday.

Lindeman served up seven straight points for the Spartans to claim an 8-2 advantage early in the first set before a pair of kills from Shelton Hatch and a Sydney Brown ace helped pull G-R back within 10-8.

Grundy Center responded by winning 10 of the next 11 points with Lindeman’s smash stretching the lead to 20-9 as the home team coasted to a one-game lead.

Edgerton netted three of the Spartan’s first five points on kills in the second set as the Spartans jumped out to a 9-3 advantage and led 13-5 following a couple G-R errors before the visitors tightened things up. Bailea Evenson’s ace triggered the run and Hayley Weber’s smash drew G-R within 14-11. Weber and Hanna Christopher paced the Rebels with six kills apiece as the visitors stayed within a four-point range through 20-16 before Grundy Center grabbed the next three points including a Kayla Mathews spike to pull away.

G-R got off to its best start in the third game with a quick 3-0 lead though the Spartans eventually moved in front at 7-6 on a Kayla Mathews kill. Grundy Center never surrendered the lead the rest of the way as an Alyssa Mathews ace and Lindeman kill stretched the margin to 16-10. The Rebels pulled within 17-13 on a Weber spike but Edgerton followed with a missile to the corner as the Spartans ended the match on an 8-0 flourish.

Sents served 15-of-16 and Alyssa Mathews was 13-of-14 with each contributing a pair of aces. Lindeman added 14 digs, six kills, a solo block and a block assist, while Noel Saak had one solo block and six kills. Freshman Landry Luhring chipped in five kills and six digs and Piper Johanns came up with seven digs.

Hatch added five kills for G-R, Jenny Schildroth had nine assists and seven digs. Sydney Brown tallied seven digs and Christopher chipped in five. Schildroth served 9-of-10 and Evenson was 8-for-9 with each recording an ace. Schildroth had three total blocks and Hatch had two.

“We weren’t quite as sharp as we wanted to be, Gladbrook did a great job – they had a nice offense, a really nice setter and a good defense so they were taking some things away,” Coach Sents said. “We were just trying to get our game going and once we did we scored a bunch of points. We had a key error here or there that would shut off some runs but the girls did a nice job of serving especially late in games.”

First-year head coach Danielle Clark wanted her team to attack the lines, but the Spartans often kept G-R on the defensive.

“(We) were playing smart in the beginning and then Grundy Center kind of caught on and started capitalizing on our weaknesses,” Clark said. “Our defense isn’t always down and ready, that’s something we’ve been striving for with them. We’re also trying to get a touch on all those blocks to help out our back row. It’s just a whole interwoven web, it all has to come together otherwise it falls like a row of dominoes.”

Both teams return to action Thursday with the Rebels hosting West Marshall, while the Spartans travel to East Marshall.