Fast starts not enough

Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn was unable to take advantage of early momentum against Gehlen Catholic during a 3-0 loss on Aug. 29. The visiting Jays won the War Eagle Conference match by scores of 25-18, 25-17 and 25-14.

The Hawks built a seven-point lead in the opening set before Gehlen Catholic tied the score and eventually pulled ahead. H-M-S stayed close before faltering down the stretch.

"One of our goals this year is to come out strong in each match," said Hawk coach Cheryl Kroese. "I was proud of how the girls came out that night. They were ready to play."

Although their lead was not as large, the Hawks again started strong in the second set. Gehlen Catholic rallied to get back into the set and used another strong finish to win it.

The Hawks led briefly in the final set but soon fell behind. The Jays consistently extended their advantage to complete the sweep.

"We struggled a bit creating our own errors. This is something we are working hard to correct," Kroese noted. "We need to put pressure on ourselves each night at practice and eliminate those types of costly errors."

The Hawks had more attack errors than kills. They also struggled at times in serve receive against the Jays, who recorded 14 aces.

Leading the offense were Kylee Schiphoff with nine kills and Abby Douma with five. Frankie Mohni was credited with 14 assists.

Top servers were Kinsey Schirmer, 9-9; Eliza Tewes, 11-12; Schiphoff, 9-11; Mohni, 8-10; and Abigail Otto, 4-4. As a team, the Hawks were successful on 86.3 percent of their attempts.

Otto recorded 11 digs, Moriah Otto had eight and Tewes finished with seven.

H-M-S (1-3, 0-1) plays at West Sioux on Sept. 7 and hosts Sibley-Ocheyedan on Sept. 11.