Left out at the end

Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn was one of three teams to finish with 1-2 match records in Pool A at the Hawks' annual volleyball tournament on Sept. 24. Since no team had an advantage in head-to-head play, the one that allowed the fewest points would advance to the semifinals.

That team was Okoboji, which allowed 135 points in three pool matches compared to H-M-S with 138. South O'Brien allowed 146 points.

The Hawks did win a pool match for the first time in three years, defeating South O'Brien in three sets (16-21, 21-17, 15-5). The slow start against the Wolverines was a carryover from the opener against Okoboji. H-M-S won the first set but faltered at the end of the second and then lost the tie-breaker (21-18, 17-21, 7-15).

Rock Valley swept its Pool A opponents, including H-M-S (17-21, 16-21). The Hawks led the first set before the Rockets rallied to win it. A strong start propelled them to the second-set win.

For H-M-S, Kylee Schiphoff put down 20 kills, Elise Hack had 16, Abby Douma had nine and Abby Kunzman had eight. Frankie Mohni recorded 46 set assists. Defensive leaders were Haack with 32 digs, Kunzman with 21, Abby Otto with 17, Emily Mutombo with 12 and Mohni with 11.

Leading servers were Kunzman, 29-of-29; Haack, 25-of-25; Otto, 20-of-20; Mutombo, 16-of-16; Morgan Grooters, 13-of-13 with two aces; and Mohni, 14-of-18.

Gehlen Catholic (1A No. 7) was 3-0 and Newell-Fonda (1A No. 9) was 2-1 in Pool B. Trinity Christian finished 1-2 and Sioux City West was winless. In the semifinals, Gehlen Catholic swept Okoboji and Newell-Fonda topped Rock Valley, 2-1. Newell-Fonda then swept the rematch with Gehlen Catholic to win the tournament championship.

• vs. Remsen St. Mary's

A hard-fought opening set win seemed to give H-M-S early momentum against visiting Remsen St. Mary's. But it failed to carry over and the Hawks lost the next three sets. Scores of the Sept. 20 match were 26-24, 14-25, 9-25 and 16-25.

The teams traded leads throughout the opener. St. Mary's led 24-23 but missed a serve, giving H-M-S an opportunity to win the set. St. Mary's responded by taking 5-0 leads in the next two, setting the tone for the rest of the match.

Serving leaders for H-M-S were Kunzman, 16-of-16; Otto, 12-of-12; Mohni, 12-of-13; Mutombo, 6-of-6; and Schiphoff, 6-of-9.

Topping the defensive stats were Haack with 20 digs, Otto with 14, Mohni with nine and Kunzman and Mutombo with four each. Haack and Schiphoff each had two block assists.

Schiphoff also contributed 10 kills, Douma and Haack each had six kills and Kunzman had four. Mohni recorded 26 set assists.

H-M-S (7-9, 2-3) plays at Hinton on Sept. 29 and at Harris-Lake Park on Oct. 4.