CONRAD — The BCLUW volleyball team boasts two of the taller players and the two leading attackers in the Iowa Star Conference’s South Division.

On Thursday, Sept. 25, in a conference clash against GMG, the Comets didn’t need to lean on their pillars of power.

Grace Farnsworth still led the way with 13 kills, but the Class 1A No. 7 BCLUW volleyball squad used a balanced attack from there to take down the Wolverines in a 3-0 sweep, winning 25-16, 25-19, 25-7.

The 6-foot senior Farnsworth and 6-2 junior Olivia Peters powered the Comets with 13 and five kills, respectively, but a big boost in the middle from junior Kylie Pekarek played a pivotal role in BCLUW busting out of a second-set slump.

GMG (6-17, 2-1) used an early 6-0 run in the second game to take a lead it didn’t relinquish for good until the Comets chased them down with a 3-0 run to make it 18-16 BCLUW. The Comets (15-3, 3-1) eventually finished off the set by scoring the final five points, putting the Wolverines’ uprising to rest.

The momentum swing stole GMG’s mojo, and the Wolverines fell flat in the third set as BCLUW put away the conference contest in convincing fashion.

“I don’t think we could ever underestimate GMG,” said BCLUW head coach Megan Yantis. “They’ve got a good crew, they’ve got a good group of girls, and we kinda saw that last Saturday when we played them (in the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Tournament).

“We knew that they would be ready coming in. It’s a conference game, and if you give them a little bit, they’re going to take a lot and they did. In that second game they took care of the ball and we didn’t, and luckily we were able to pull it out.”

After a solid opening set, BCLUW stumbled out of the gates in Game 2. GMG got a kill and a service ace from senior Rhianna Murty as part of an early 5-0 surge. The Wolverines led 6-2 and withstood some pushback from the Comets on their Senior Night to still lead 16-15.

Farnsworth fired up the hometown crowd with a kill to tie the score at 16-all, and a pair of GMG swinging errors gave BCLUW the lead for the rest of the match.

A service ace by Landry August got GMG back to within 20-19, but BCLUW returned fire from the right side. Pekarek pounded down a kill, Brinna Benson followed with an ace, and sophomore setter Cambria Wayman accounted for two of the final three points with a kill and a block.

After GMG senior setter Hadlee Hempy started the third set with an ace, BCLUW scored the next 10 points and put the Wolverines on notice. Peters put down back-to-back aces during the surge.

Murty put down a kill to quell the Comets’ run, but they started another five-point push with a Farnsworth kill off the block. Kennedy Davis added an ace, Farnsworth pounded out another kill on a tandem attack, and it was 15-2 by the time GMG used its second and final timeout of the set.

“After we beat them in the first set, I think it was like ‘oh, we’re good’ type of thing, but it’s volleyball and we’ve always got to be ready,” Yantis said of the second-game spell. “So I think they learned that and in the third set we came back and played how we should have.”

Pekarek piled up seven kills in the middle, as well as one of the Comets’ four blocks. Davis and Leah McEwen pitched in with two kills and Wayman added one.

“Kylie’s been a great surprise,” said Yantis. “She has come in and definitely been that big spark. And I really do sometimes think she’s our little spark plug and she just brings a lot of energy and does such a nice job in that middle.

“She really has come a long way this year.”

Wayman finished with 20 assists and Sally Ramirez added five more to the Comet offense. Benson finished with a team-leading 13 digs while serving 9-for-9 with two aces. Wayman was 17-for-18 with two aces.

GMG got a team-leading four kills and two service aces from both Murty and August, while Hempy had two kills. Arianna Pierce, Skyler Murty and Ava Maddux added one kill apiece.