Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Strong serving sends Hawks past Harris-Lake Park
Eliza Tewes goes up for an attack in the first set of H-M-S's match with Harris-Lake Park.
Addy Sheeler contributed five digs during the Hawks' win over Harris-Lake Park.
High-percentage serving was a key component in the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn volleyball team's sweep of Harris-Lake Park on Oct. 8. The Hawks improved to 3-5 in War Eagle Conference play with the 25-17, 25-15, 25-22 win at Lake Park.
H-M-S was successful on 69-of-73 serve attempts (94.5 percent efficiency) and recorded 12 aces.
"The ladies were spot on hitting serves," Hawk coach Cheryl Kroese said. "H-LP was really struggling with their serve receive and our girls did a fantastic job of hitting their spots and being aggressive with it."
Individual serving totals were: Kylee Schiphoff, 16-of-17, five aces; Frankie Mohni, 15-of-17, three aces; Eliza Tewes, 15-of-15, two aces; Moriah Otto, 7-of-7; Addy Sheeler and Lindsey Van Es, 6-of-6; and Eva Stammer, 4-of-5.
The Wolves' inability to consistently receive serves led to free balls that helped fuel H-M-S's offense. Leaders in kills were Schiphoff with eight, Abby Douma and Otto with five each, and Tewes with two. Mohni finished with 17 assists.
The Hawks were able to build good leads during the first two sets and were never seriously threatened. H-LP had the early advantage in the final set but H-M-S recovered and went on to complete the sweep.
"I was proud of our efforts as I never felt like we were not in a position to finish the match with a win," Kroese noted.
The back row defense recorded 49 digs, led by Van Es with 12. Mohni and Tewes contributed 11 digs, Sheeler had five, Stammer had four, and Otto and Schiphoff each had three.
"Our high dig numbers are a result of H-LP doing a nice job of staying in the volleys, but our girls responded by moving their feet and getting to the attacks they were sending at us," Kroese said.
H-M-S (6-12) concludes the regular season on Oct. 17 at Akron-Westfield (1A No. 11).
• Hawks open regional play Oct. 23
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn begins Class 2A Region 7 play in the quarterfinal round on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at West Lyon High School near Inwood. First serve is at 7 p.m.
The winner of an opening round match between MMCRU and Lawton-Bronson on Oct. 21 will advance to play Hinton in the other quarterfinal round match.
The quarterfinal winners at Inwood and Hinton will advance to the regional semifinal on Monday, Oct. 28, at Hinton.
