Overcoming the obstacles

West Sioux won the first set but Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn had the last word in the opening round of the Class 2A regional volleyball tournament. H-M-S earned the 3-1 win by scores of 21-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-16, on Oct. 16 in Hartley.

The Hawks broke out to an 8-1 lead in the first set, only to see West Sioux rally to go ahead. The score remained tight the rest of the way, but H-M-S could not overcome the Falcons.

"Starting the first set we came out very strong. Unfortunately we let it slip, struggling with some serve receive and serving, allowing West Sioux to take it from us," Hawk coach Cheryl Kroese said.

The Hawks corrected things during the second set. Their lead was threatened but they were able to maintain it. West Sioux fell behind by eight points during the third set and their late rally fell short. H-M-S built a double-digit lead in the final set and went on to seal the match.

"We got stronger as the night went on," Kroese noted. "I'm very proud of how the ladies responded, as the change in lineup due to an injury to Kylee [Schiphoff] is always something to work through. They all stepped up and did a terrific job of working together to get the win."

The Hawks had nearly twice as many kills as West Sioux [42-23]. Abby Douma and Moriah Otto led H-M-S with 10, Eliza Tewes and Eva Stammer each had seven, and Addison Sheeler finished with four. Frankie Mohni added three kills to go along with 33 set assists, and Kinsey Schirmer had four assists.

On defense, Douma had three solo blocks and two assists. Leaders in digs were Abigail Otto with 19 and Tewes with 18. Lindsey Van Es and Schirmer each had seven digs, Mohni had six, and Douma and Sheeler both had four.

At the serving line, Tewes was 23-of-24, Schirmer was 18-of-20, Van Es was 13-of-14, Moriah Otto was 9-of-10 and Mohni was 11-of-14. The Hawks finished with 13 aces, led by Van Es with four, Tewes with three, and Otto, Mohni and Schirmer with two each.