Winless no more

Their records may not have been stellar, but Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn and Harris-Lake Park battled as though the War Eagle Conference volleyball title was on the line.

A two-set lead by H-M-S was matched by two straight wins by the Wolves to force a fifth set. The Hawks trailed for much of the final set but rallied to claim the win. Set scores were 25-21, 25-15, 11-25, 22-25, 15-13.

"Overall it was a great team effort," Hawk coach Cheryl Kroese said. "These girls have worked really hard all season and that paid off with a well-deserved victory."

An early lead in the opener set the tone for the Hawks who extended the margin to seven points and still led by six in the late stages. H-LP rallied to 22-21 before H-M-S sealed the win. Overcoming an early deficit in the second set, H-M-S built a 20-11 advantage. They matched points with H-LP the rest of the way to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Wolves flipped the script in the third set, taking the early lead and earning a comfortable win to get back in the match. H-M-S seemed to be in control in the fourth set but a six-point lead at the midpoint wasn't enough. The Wolves went ahead 20-19 and then rallied from a 22-20 deficit to tie the match.

H-M-S trailed in the final set, led and then trailed again. The Hawks took the lead for good at 13-12 and hung on for the 15-13 win.

"Game 3 we obviously had a few adjustments we needed to make but I was proud of the way the girls came back in game 4 and competed, and hung in there in game 5 when we were down," Kroese said.

She credited Emily Otto's four kills in the opening set and Jasmine Lux's five in the clincher as key contributions in the match. Overall, Lux had 12 kills, Otto had five, Abby Douma and Elise Haack had four and Kaley Pearson had three. Pearson also put up 11 set assists and Douma added seven.

"The girls executed really well throughout the majority of the match," Kroese said. "I was happy with our execution offensively overall. We distributed the ball well."

On defense, H-M-S had eight total blocks, with Pearson recording two solos and two assists. Leaders in digs were Pearson with 14, Haack with 12, Abby Kunzman with 10, Abby Otto with six and Frankie Mohni with five.

Kroese was happy with the Hawks' serving, led by Pearson (22-22), Kunzman (15-15, 2 aces), Haack (19-20, 3 aces), Mohni (11-15, 4 aces) and Abby Otto (15-19).

• vs. South O'Brien

South O'Brien had a little more firepower offensively, giving them the edge over H-M-S on Oct. 7 at Paullina. The Wolverines swept the match by scores of 25-17, 25-15, 25-21.

South O'Brien had the advantage in attacks and kills, as well as in serving attempts and aces. The Hawks were strong on defense with seven blocks and came up with more digs.

Emily Otto was the leader in kills with eight while Elise Haack, Jasmine Lux and Kaley Pearson each had two. Also at the net, Lux had a solo block and two assists, and Abby Kunzman had two block assists.

Leaders in digs were Haack with 11, Kunzman with nine, Emily Mutombo and Abby Otto with six and Frankie Mohni and Pearson with four.

H-M-S's serve efficiency was 92.6 percent. Kunzman was 10-of-10, Pearson was 9-of-9, Haack was 9-of-10, Mohni was 8-of-9, Abby Otto was 7-of-8 with two aces, and Emily Mutombo was 7-of-8.

• Postseason begins on Oct. 18

H-M-S (1-14, 1-7) wraps up the regular season with a home match against Akron-Westfield on Oct. 14.

Class 2A Region 1 tournament play begins Monday, Oct. 18, when H-M-S travels to Sioux Rapids to take on Sioux Central. The winner advances to play Boyden-Hull on Wednesday, Oct. 20, at Hull. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.