Cyclone netters top No. 3 St. Albert, go 2-1 in home tourney

 HARLAN (Aug. 29) -- The Harlan Community volleyball team saved its best for last in Saturday’s four-team Cyclone Tournament, sweeping 3rd-ranked (1A) St. Albert 25-19, 25-19 to finish 2-1 on the day and improve to 5-1 overall.
 Following a disappointing 25-27, 17-25 loss to Treynor in its second match of the quad, HCHS fell behind the Saintes 11-3 in set one before taking control with a 9-0 run and basically dominating the rest of the way.
 The Cyclones started the morning with a 25-17, 25-20 win over Logan-Magnolia.
 Treynor, which lost its opener vs. St. Albert in two sets, responded with a pair of wins and technically placed first overall based on its head-to-head win over Harlan. Lo-Ma and St. Albert both went 1-2.
 HCHS head coach Willie Baughman was pleased by his team’s ability to rally against both Treynor and St. Albert in set one, although they weren’t quite able to finish after taking a 23-22 lead vs. the Cardinals.
 “We talked about chipping away and chipping away,” he said. “We got back in (both matches). I think that shows that we’ve grown from last year to this year a little bit - just mentally, physically - which is good to see, and we really took it to (St. Albert) once we figured it out."
 Cyclone highlights in the St. Albert match included excellent serving (45-for-48, three aces), winning the ugly points and scrambles, and taking advantage of its size advantage at the net. HCHS finished the match with eight blocks compared to none for St. Albert, which also had eight service errors.
 Stat leaders for the Cyclones included Macie Leinen with 23 kills for the tournament and Zophi Hendricks with 21. Jocelyn Cheek served 34-for-35 with two aces and set 31 assists. Ashley Hall had 35 digs, served 25-for-26 with three aces and accrued a serve receive average of 2.7 on a 3.0 scale. Claire Schmitz added a team-high five blocks to go with nine kills.