Under attack

Hinton picked up from where it left off in 2023, exhibiting great strength at the net during a 3-0 victory over Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn. Set scores for the volleyball match played on Sept. 3 in Hartley were 25-12, 25-7, 25-19 in favor of the No. 7-ranked team in Class 2A.

The Blackhawks only had five more attacks than H-M-S (73-68) in the opening match of War Eagle Conference play. But they recorded 28 more kills (43-15) and 28 blocks, 12 of which were solos.

Even so, Hawk coach Cheryl Kroese saw the match as "a great opportunity to go against a powerful team" and liked much of what she saw from the Hawks.

"I was extremely pleased with how the girls came out and competed," she said. "I don't feel our first set score shows the effort the girls gave. Our serve receive play was very good and we were aggressive offensively."

After experiencing what Kroese called "a bit of a lull" in the second set, the Hawks challenged the Blackhawks for most of the final set.

"The third set we were able to put up more kills offensively and get in on some blocks," Kroese said. "Overall I was very pleased with the efforts of our team and look forward to taking that type of play into our upcoming matches."

H-M-S had fewer service attempts (61-40) but committed just two service errors compared to 12 for Hinton. Kylee Schiphoff was 9-of-9 with an ace; Lindsey Van Es was 7-of-7 with an ace; Frankie Mohni and Eliza Tewes were 6-of-6; Eva Stammer was 7-of-8; and Kenadie Van Loon was 3-of-3.

Defensively, Van Es had 12 digs, Mohni had nine, Tewes had seven and Addy Sheeler had four. Abby Douma and Stammer each had two block assists.

Douma and Schiphoff had five kills and Sheeler added three. Mohni put up 10 set assists.

• Swept by South O'Brien

H-M-S suffered it second consecutive sweep in conference play, losing at South O'Brien on Sept. 5. Set scores were 20-25, 19-25 and 17-25.

The Hawks recorded 24 kills, led by Schiphoff with seven, Moriah Otto with six, Douma with five and Stamer with three. Mohni recorded 19 set assists.

Schiphoff finished with one solo block and three assists, and Douma had a solo block and two assists.

The back row defense came up with 72 digs, led by Mohni with 16, Van Es with 12, Sheeler with 10, Tewes with nine, Otto with eight, Schiphoff with seven and Payton Diehm with six.

The Hawks were only successful on 80.7 percent of their serves. Top servers were Otto, 9-of-9 with an ace; Van Es, 10-of-12 with an ace; Schiphoff, 7-of-8; Tewes, 7-of-9; Mohni, 6-of-9; and Sheeler, 3-of-4.

H-M-S (1-4, 0-2) plays at George-Little Rock on Sept. 12 and at Sibley-Ocheyedan on Sept. 16. The Hawks will also host West Sioux on Sept. 17.