Great start, big finish to Homecoming week

Homecoming week at Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn got off to a rousing start with the volleyball team's 3-0 sweep of visiting South O'Brien on Sept. 12. The Hawks earned their second straight War Eagle Conference win by scores of 25-10, 25-19 and 25-21.

"Getting the sweep against South O'Brien was a great way to start Homecoming week," said Hawk coach Cheryl Kroese. "I definitely felt like some of the momentum from the West Sioux win carried over."

The Hawks dominated at the net, recording nearly twice as many kills [28-15] as the Wolverines. Elise Haack, Abby Kunzman and Kylee Schiphoff each had seven kills, and Abby Douma contributed four. Frankie Mohni put up 20 set assists.

H-M-S finished with a serving efficiency of 90.3 percent. Kunzman was 17-of-17; Abby Otto was 14-of-15; Mohni was 10-of-13 with four aces; Douma was 10-of-12; and Emily Mutombo was 9-of-9.

Kunzman led the back row with 11 digs, Mohni had eight, Otto had seven, and Douma and Haack each had six.

"I'm proud of how these ladies come into practice each and every day and put forth quality effort," Kroese observed. "Wins don't just come from our attitude and effort on the night of the game. It comes in being consistent with it day in and day out."

• GT/RA tourney

The Hawks wrapped up Homecoming week with a big finish, winning three pool matches at the Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire tournament on Sept. 17.

H-M-S lost the first set of pool play against West Bend-Mallard (17-21), then flipped the score in the second set and won the tie-breaker (21-17, 15-12). Following a 21-10, 21-8 sweep of Harris-Lake Park the Hawks topped GT/RA (21-12, 21-18) to win the pool.

North Union won the first set (21-9) of the semifinal match. H-M-S made the second set much closer, but could not get the win (19-21).

The Hawks served at 90 percent or above in every match. For the tourney, Mohni was 31-of-34, Schiphoff was 31-of-35, Otto was 27-of-29, Kunzman was 26-of-28, Haack was 19-of-19 and Mutombo was 16-of-16. Schiphoff recorded seven aces and Mohni had six.

The Hawks put down 54 kills, led by Schiphoff with 19, Haack with 13, Douma and Kunzman with seven, and Eliza Tewes with five. Mohni added three kills along with 43 set assists for the day.

In blocks, Douma had four solos and four assists, Tewes had two solos, Haack had five assists and Schiphoff had four assists.

Leaders in digs were Haack with 36, Otto with 21, Kunzman and Mutombo with 20, and Mohni with 10.

The Hawks' 4-1 match record for the week evened their overall record at 6-6.

H-M-S hosts its annual volleyball tournament on Saturday, Sept. 24. Pool play begins at 9 a.m. Teams in Pool A (H-M-S, Okoboji, Rock Valley and South O'Brien) will play in the new gym while Pool B teams (Sioux City West, Gehlen Catholic, Trinity Christian and Newell-Fonda) play in the old gym. Semifinal and championship matches will follow completion of pool matches.

The Hawks return to War Eagle Conference play at Unity Christian on Sept. 27.