Cyclones sweep Denison in H-10 volleyball opener
DENISON -- Overcoming a sluggish start in each set, Harlan Community played better volleyball as the night went along to sweep Denison-Schleswig 25-20, 25-15, 25-11 in Tuesday’s Hawkeye Ten Conference opener.
Just three days after HCHS won its home tournament and Denison went 0-4 at the AHSTW Tourney, the Monarchs came ready to play on their home floor, leading most of the opening set and going ahead 16-13 to force a Cyclone timeout.
HCHS still trailed 18-15 when two Denison errors and a Lexi Larsen ace serve ignited a 10-2 finishing surge capped by Haley Leinen’s straight-down kill of a D-S overpass at the net.
The Cyclones (6-1 overall) also trailed 9-8 in set two and 6-3 in set three but had a much easier time closing the deal as Denison’s unforced mistakes began to mount. Runs of 8-0 and 13-1 in those games carried HCHS to the sweep.
Cyclone head coach Willie Baughman felt that Tuesday’s early struggles could be attributed to the team playing its first match away from home after going 5-1 in familiar surroundings on Saturday.
“It kind of shell-shocked us a little bit right at the beginning - little nerves, little excitement - and once we kind of settled down after that first timeout we saw a little bit of a change in the momentum and we kind of got it rolling.
“Give credit to (Denison) though. I know they didn’t have a great opening tournament and they came out and improved from Saturday to now... They didn’t look like an 0-4 team right away and they played well those first two sets for sure.”
HCHS 25-25-25, Denison 20-15-11
Harlan Community Statistics
Serving: 68/71 (95.8%), 14 aces -- Lexi Larsen 15/16, 4 aces; Kara Weis 13/13, 2 aces; Delaney Kelly 13/13, 2 aces; Lexie Holloway 10/10, 2 aces; Sidney Craig 9/10, 2 aces; Haley Leinen 6/7, 1 ace; Haley Manz 2/2, 1 ace.
Serve Receive Average: 1.81 (37 att.) -- Olivia Petersen 2.67 (3 att.), Craig 2.40 (15 att.), Larsen 1.50 (6 att.), Kelly 1.22 (9 att.), Holloway 1.00 (3 att.), Hayley Hopkins 0.00 (1 att.).
Attacks: 56/64, 25 kills (8.3 per set), .266 kill eff. -- H. Leinen 14/15, 9 kills (.533 eff.); Larsen 15/17, 5 kills (.176); Holloway 10/12, 4 kills (.167); Hopkins 5/6, 3 kills (.333); Macie Leinen 6/8, 2 kills; Anna Ahrenholtz 1/1, 1 kill (1.000); Petersen 5/5, 1 kill (.200).
Assists: 22 -- Weis 13, Holloway 8, Craig 1.
Blocks: 9 -- Ahrenholtz 2 (1 solo), H. Leinen 2, M. Leinen 2, Larsen 1 (solo), Holloway 1, Petersen 1.
Digs: 34 -- Craig 13, Kelly 10, Larsen 5, H. Leinen 3, Weis 1, Ahrenholtz 1, Holloway 1.