Good tests of progress

After playing two close sets with Sibley-Ocheyedan, the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn volleyball team could not sustain that effort in the final two sets. The Hawks lost the match played Aug. 29 at Sibley by scores of 24-26, 27-25, 18-25 and 16-25.

The teams traded leads for much of the first set and a series of ties was only broken when S-O scored the final two points. H-M-S was able to return the favor in the next set.

"We saw some definite improvement from last week," said Hawk coach Cheryl Kroese. "Going into the contest, I knew we would match up pretty evenly with S-O. The first two sets were definitely representative of that."

Sibley-Ocheyedan established early leads in the final two sets to earn both wins.

"The third set we lost our momentum. Not sure what to attribute it to. We just came out a bit flat," Kroese acknowledged.

Kylee Schiphoff led H-M-S at the net with 14 kills and three block assists. Abby Kunzman and Abby Douma had three kills and two block assists. Elise Haack added two solo blocks.

Frankie Mohni contributed 16 set assists and 16 digs. Haack finished with 15 digs, Abby Otto had 11, and Emily Mutombo and Kunzman finished with eight each.

Serving leaders were Kunzman, 19-of-21; Mutombo, 13-of-14, four aces; Mohni, 16-of-19, two aces; Haack, 9-of-9; and Otto, 10-of-14, three aces.

Kroese said she was pleased with the Hawks' blocking and aggressive serving.

• vs. Gehlen Catholic

H-M-S traveled to LeMars on Aug. 30 to open War Eagle Conference play against Gehlen Catholic. The Jays (1A No. 7) earned the sweep by scores of 25-12, 25-18 and 25-22.

The Hawks were able to challenge Gehlen Catholic throughout the match.

"I was extremely happy with the way our girls played. Always enjoy an opportunity to go up against a ranked opponent and see how you play," Kroese said. "The first set I felt we played better than the score indicated. Our passing as a whole was very good which helped us be better able to run our offense."

Schiphoff led H-M-S in kills with seven while Haack had three. Mohni finished with 11 set assists.

Douma was 10-of-10 in serving; Mohni was 9-of-9; Haack and Kunzman were 8-of-8; and Morgan Grooters was 8-of-9.

Mohni led the back row with 13 digs. Haack finished with 10 digs, Otto had eight, Kunzman and Schiphoff had six, and Mutombo came up with five.

"As the night went on, our girls were able to do a fantastic job of keeping the ball in play and making Gehlen work for their points," Kroese noted. "I'm excited to take that level of play into our future contests."

H-M-S (1-4, 0-1) hosts West Sioux on Sept. 8 and South O'Brien on Sept. 12.