Gehlen serving clinic stifles Hawk offense
The War Eagle Conference season for both Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn and Gehlen Catholic began when the teams met August 31 at Hartley. Unfortunately for the Hawks, Gehlen’s serving prowess stalled the HMS offense before it had a chance to get motoring. The result was a decisive sweep for the Jays by scores of 25-4, 25-13 and 25-6.
Gehlen finished the night with a 95 percent success rate on their serves, missing only four of 75 attempts. Along the way the Jays served up 22 aces, but even when their serves didn’t directly result in a point they often left the Hawks scambling.
“Gehlen had some phenomenal servers,” commented Hawk head coach Cheryl Kroese. “They kept us out of rhythm the entire match. If we can put the pass up we give ourselves a chance. It definitely shows us our weakness and what we will be working on to improve.”
On the night, HMS had 45 attacks and from that only four kills. Jasmine Lux had three of those kills and Emily Otto the other. Frankie Mohni made two set assists and there was one each from Kaley Pearson and Emily Mutombo.
The Hawks were able to dig up 15 of Gehlen’s 50 attacks. Leading the way there was Pearson with four digs. HMS was unable to record a block against the Jays’ hitters.
There were only 24 HMS serves but they were successful on 23 of those. Among the six Hawks who did not misfire on a serve, Abby Otto had the most attempts with seven.
HMS Stats
Kills-Errors-Attempts (Kill Efficiency): Team 4-15-45 (-.244), Kaley Pearson 0-0-1 (.000), Abby Kunzman 0-1-1 (-1.000), Emily Mutombo 0-1-4 (-.250), Jasmine Lux 3-5-13 (-.154), Emily Otto 1-1-8 (.000), Kinsey Schirmer 0-0-1 (.000); Kylee Schiphoff 0-0-2 (.000); Frankie Mohni 0-0-1 (.000), Elise Haack 0-7-14 (-.500).
Assists: Mohni 2, Pearson, Mutombo 1.
Digs: Team 15, Pearson 4, Mohni 3, Kunzman, Abby Otto, Haack 2, Mutombo, Schirmer 1.
Serving (Efficiency): Team 23-24 (.958) 3 aces, Pearson 1-1 (1.000), Kunzman 5-5 (1.000), Mutombo 3-3 (1.000), A. Otto 7-7 (1.000) 1 ace, Schirmer 3-3 (1.000), Mohni 0-1 (.000), Haack 4-4 (1.000) 2 aces.