Serving prowess leads Cyclones past D-S in four
HARLAN (Sept. 1) -- After letting one slip away in the opening set, the Harlan Community volleyball team used fast starts and quality serving to finish off Denison-Schleswig in four here Tuesday night, winning 23-25, 25-15, 25-18, 25-21 in the Hawkeye Ten opener for both teams.
HCHS improved to 6-1 overall while the Monarchs dropped to 3-1.
Serving was the key to the outcome as the Cyclones racked up 20 aces while missing just five serves (91-of-96). Denison had six aces compared to nine errors. All four sets ended with a missed serve.
HCHS head coach Willie Baughman credited a switch to the short serving game - or at least mixing it in - for the Cyclones’ success in keeping Denison off balance and out of system the last three sets.
“Short serving is not about getting aces, it’s about just getting them out of system,” he said. “Then we get some free balls, we get some easy swings, get some advantage, and we really did that.”
The 20 aces were just icing on the cake for HCHS and also the result of some shaky Monarch passing.
Senior Macie Leinen (16-of-18) led the team with five aces while sophomore Macy Reischl (23-of-23) and senior Ashley Hall (16-of-17) added four each. Reischl served nine straight points during a pivotal 10-0 Cyclone run in set three that took the score from 13-11 to 23-11.
Leinen, who opened the match with a kill, served three of her aces during a 5-0 start to set one. Denison then responded with a 6-1 run to force the first of nine ties. HCHS led 19-15, but was outscored 10-4 the rest of the way to drop a close one.
Buoyed by an 11-4 start, the Cyclones never trailed in the second set and fell behind just once each in three and four, pulling away during the middle stages to build double-digits cushions and surviving a bit of a late stumble each time.
HCHS 23-25-25-25, Denison 25-15-18-21
Harlan Community Stat Leaders
Serving: 91/96 (94.8%), 20 aces -- Macy Reischl 23/23, 4 aces; Ashley Hall 16/17, 4 aces; Macie Leinen 16/18, 5 aces; Lauren Andersen 13/13, 1 ace; Jocelyn Cheek 12/12, 3 aces; Zophi Hendricks 10/12, 3 aces.
Attacks: 106/128, 41 kills, .148 kill eff. -- Hendricks 29/36, 11 kills (.111 eff.); Leinen 18/23, 10 kills (.217); Andersen 14/15, 7 kills (.400); Claire Schmitz 12/13, 3 kills (.154); Lauren McLaughlin 14/18, 3 kills (-.056); Delaney Wegner 6/10, 3 kills (-.100); Cheek 3/3, 2 kills (.667); Hall 4/4, 2 kills (.500).
Assists: 35 -- Cheek 16, Reischl 11.
Blocks: 17 -- McLaughlin 1s/5a, Andersen 0s/5a, Leinen 1s/1a, Hendricks 1s/1a, C. Schmitz 0s/2a.
Digs: 56 -- Reischl 11, Hall 8, Cheek 8, Hendricks 7, Petersen 7, Leinen 4, D. Wegner 4.
Serve Receive Average: 2.17/3.00 (71 att.) -- Leinen 3.00 (2 att.), Jordan Heese 3.00 (1), C. Schmitz 3.00 (1), Hall 2.48 (27).