By Andrew Johnson
LocalSportsJournal.com
GRAND RAPIDS – The Spring Lake volleyball team showed a lot of fight, but ultimately 
had its season end on Thursday night with a three-set loss to host Grand Rapids Christian in the Division 2 regional finals.
The Lakers lost via set scores of 25-11, 25-22 and 25-18.
In the opening set, the Eagles raced out to a 10-3 lead and cruised to the win.
The Lakers reloaded in the second set and jumped out to a promising 13-11 lead. But Grand Rapids Christian answered with a 14-9 run to end the set and take a 2-0 lead.
In the third set, the teams were tied 9-9 before Grand Rapids Christian went on a 12-5 run, sealed up the match, and won a spot in the state quarterfinals.
Jenna Core led the Lakers with 10 kills on the night while teammate Abbi Perkins added eight. Madeline Zenas had 23 assists while Julia Clover paced the defense with nine digs.
Despite the loss, Spring Lake Coach Cassidy Hazekamp was impressed with the way her team battled all the way to the end.
“I’m so proud,” she said. “We made some changes and talked about what we needed to do better. They battled and I’m very proud of them for the changes they made after the first set.”
Spring Lake finished the season with a 33-9 record.
“Just a lot of good stuff since August,” Hazekamp said. “A lot of improvement. These girls are so much more than volleyball players. The impact that they’ve had on Spring Lake volleyball isn’t measured on wins and losses.”
Senior Jenna Core and her seven classmates had to face the end of their varsity volleyball careers.
“We won districts and our goal was to make it really far,” she said. “We came out and played pretty good tonight. We can be very proud. Last year we won a conference championship, and then this year we won a district. We left it all on the court and did everything as a team.”
