It was a head-scratcher

Statistics can be useful in determining which team was the most successful in an athletic event. But they don't always tell the full story.

Key statistics for Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn in a Class 2A regional opening round match Oct. 17 at Sibley were every bit as good as Sibley-Ocheyedan in almost every area. But the stat that counts most – scoring – was in the Generals' favor. They won the match, 3-1, by scores of 25-20, 25-20, 24-26 and 25-20.

"I was extremely proud of how we came out and battled," said Hawk coach Cheryl Kroese. "When you can record an average of 10 kills a game, put up a total of 21 blocks on the night (some were double blocks) and serve at 97 percent, it makes you scratch your head and wonder how we possibly lost the match.

"Give S-O credit," Kroese added. "They took everything we dished out and kept battling back."

That was evident in the first two sets when the Hawks had early leads, but S-O would rally to win both. The teams traded leads much of the third set before H-M-S closed out their only win. S-O broke out to a five-point lead in the final set. The Hawks recovered to eventually tie the score but could not prevent the Generals from prevailing.

One area in which H-M-S struggled was hitting efficiency, and that may have determined the final outcome.

"If I were to look at the breakdown of the difference in set 3 when we won, versus the others, I think our kill efficiency at that time was higher and we weren't making some of the unforced errors that maybe we did in the other sets," Kroese observed.

H-M-S finished the match with 40 kills, led by Abby Kunzman with 10, Abby Douma with nine, Elise Haack and Kylee Schiphoff with seven each, and Eliza Tewes with four. Setter Frankie Mohni distributed 34 assists.

Leading the defense at the net were Douma with two solo blocks and three assists; Schiphoff with one solo and four assists; Haack with five assists; and Emily Mutombo, Kunzman and Tewes with two assists.

Those with double-digit totals in digs were Kunzman 19, Mohni 18, Haack 14 and Abby Otto 10. Schiphoff added five digs and Mutombo had four.

The Hawks converted all but two of their 87 serve attempts. Kunzman was 20-of-20, Morgan Grooters was 16-of-16, Haack was 15-of-15, Otto was 12-of-12, Mutombo was 9-of-9 and Mohni was 11-of-13. Otto also had two aces.

H-M-S closed out the season with a record of 8-17. A recap of the season, including postseason honors, will be featured in next week's issue.