Win some, lose some

How well Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn fared in close sets determined the outcome of two War Eagle Conference volleyball matches last week.

The close sets went H-M-S's way in a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over visiting Trinity Christian on Sept. 10. It was the Hawks' first in conference play.

It did not appear there would be any close sets after the Tigers won the first two by identical 25-14 scores.

"We talked prior to the match about being aggressive offensively. In the first two sets, we weren't always doing that. We struggled with execution. We just made too many unforced errors," said Hawk coach Cheryl Kroese.

An early lead in the third set propelled H-M-S to a comfortable 25-18 win. Trinity Christian overcame an early deficit in the fourth to build a 15-9 advantage. The Hawks tied the score at 17-17 and later were one point away from victory. The Tigers rallied to take a 25-24 lead but H-M-S eventually prevailed, 27-25.

In the tie-breaker, H-M-S again led early and then had to rally to clinch the 15-13 win.

"Part of turning things around is trusting in the process and each other," Kroese noted. "Sets 3-5 we stayed aggressive offensively, and served and serve-received well. In addition, we did a fantastic job of reading Trinity Christian defensively and were able to shut them down more with our block."

Kroese credited every player with contributing to H-M-S's success. Nine players had at least one dig, led by Lindsey Van Es with 31, Moriah Otto 17, and Frankie Mohni and Eliza Tewes 14. Addy Sheeler added seven digs, Eva Stammer had five and Payton Diehm had three.

Abby Douma led the defense at the net with eight total blocks, while Mohni and Stammer each had two.

Kylee Schiphoff paced the offense with 19 kills, Douma had 11, Tewes had eight and Otto added five. Mohni recorded 34 set assists and Van Es had four.

Mohni also led H-M-S with six aces on 18-of-20 serving. Otto was 17-of-19 with an ace, Van Es was 18-of-21 with an ace, Schiphoff was 15-of-17 with an ace, Stammer was 17-of-19 and Tewes was 9-of-10.

• Drop close ones to G-LR

H-M-S failed to win the close sets in a conference match at George-Little Rock on Sept. 12. The Mustangs won the first and third sets by identical 27-25 scores, and took the second set (25-20) to earn the 3-0 win.

Kenadie Van Loon recorded five ace serves while completing 8-of-9 attempts. Other serving leaders were Tewes, 13-of-14; Schiphoff, 12-of-14; Otto, 11-of-12; Mohni, 8-of-10; and Van Es, 6-of-8. Schiphoff and Tewes each had two aces.

At the net, Douma put down 10 kills, Otto had six, and Schiphoff and Tewes each had five. Mohni put up 23 set assists.

On defense, Douma contributed three block assists, while Schiphoff had one solo block and an assist. The Hawks had 56 digs, led by Van Es with 17, Mohni with 10, Tewes with nine and Otto with seven.

H-M-S (2-5, 1-3) plays in the GTRA tournament on Sept. 21 at Graettinger, and at Gehlen Catholic on Sept. 24.