By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com

GRAND HAVEN- The city of Grand Haven has been hosting a unique outdoor volleyball event for the past three years.LSJ Logo incert

And the hometown high school team has dominated the tournament every year.

That trend continued Friday, with the Grand Haven volleyball team sweeping Mona Shores, Fruitport and Spring Lake, all by 2-0 scores, in the “Battle on the Boardwalk” at Waterfront Stadium.

Grand Haven's No. 12 Morgan Ross gets up for the block against Fruitport's No. 17 Rebekah Busscher. Photo/Carol Cooper

Grand Haven’s No. 12 Morgan Ross gets up for the block against Fruitport’s No. 17 Rebekah Busscher. Photo/Carol Cooper

“It was fun to see everything come together with this event and see the rain hold off,” said Grand Haven Coach Aaron Smaka, whose team advanced to the Class A state semifinals last season.

“Back in 2012 we felt that we had this great venue on the boardwalk to host this event. I remember going out here and measuring the space to see if two courts would fit. I remember looking out and saying ‘Oh my gosh this can work.’ Then the community got behind the idea to make this happen.”

The Buccaneers improved to 11-2 on the season with the three victories.

Emily Lachmann had 18 kills, Sophia Newhouse led with 42 digs and seven aces and Katie Cole had 59 assists for the Buccaneers.

Mona Shores (9-6) finished in second place, defeating Spring Lake and Fruitport 2-1 after opening the event with a loss to Grand Haven.

Grace Hellman led the Sailors with 17 kills while Kennedy Potts had 29 digs. Kaitlin Hermanson added 35 assists.

Libby Cole on the serve for Grand Haven. Photo/Carol Cooper

Libby Cole on the serve for Grand Haven. Photo/Carol Cooper

Fruitport, now 5-3 on the season, took one match out of three, beating Spring Lake 2-1 and finishing in third place.

Delaney Bennett led the Trojans with 24 kills while Alyssa Veihl had 61 assists.

Spring Lake lost all three of its matches and dropped to 4-7-1 on its season.

Olivia Grimmer had 14 kills for the Lakers while Alli Pennington had 29 digs.