Warrior senior Katrina Hageman dives for a dig against Waukon Thursday. (Driftless Multimedia photo by Becky Walz)
The South Winn volleyball team (2-5) had their home opener on Thursday evening, hosting a quad with Central Elkader, Crestwood and Waukon. Saturday, the Warriors competed in the New Hampton Labor Day Weekend tournament with some of the top teams in the area, and went 1-2 for the day.
Splitting with NEIC
The Warrior played two matches on the night and picked up the split, with the two NEIC schools defeating Waukon and losing to Crestwood.
In the first match with the Waukon Indians, South Winn fought back from an early first set deficit to pick up a win by a tight margin of 26-24. Waukon came right back to take the second set 25-21, but the Warriors came out firing in the third set with the convincing 15-6 win.
South Winn had 30 kills in 97 attack attempts with 26 assists and 35 digs. Leading the Warriors against the Indians at the net was Katrina Hageman with 10 kills and eight digs. Abby Wagner added eight kills and went 8-for-8 in serves with an ace. Ella Theis dished out 13 assist, while Avery Luzum handed out another 11. Freshman libero Chloe Wiltgen had eight digs and was 18-for-19 at the service line with two ace serves.
In the second match, Crestwood was very strong in the first set, 25-14, but the Warriors rebounded, nearly taking set two before falling 23-25 to end the evening with a split.
The Warriors had 13 kills, 13 assists, 28 digs, seven total blocks and went 30-for-33 as a team against the Cadets. Avery Humpal and K. Hageman contributed four kills apiece. Theis provided eight assists and eight digs, with Luzum dishing out five assists and coming up with four digs. Ivey Franzen had a pair of solo blocks and one assist. Wiltgen once again got the job done at the service line, going 8-for-9 with three aces.
“We saw some more consistent flashes of high level volleyball in comparison to last week. I was very pleased with how we passed and got to our offense. Our serving was strong with a high percentage and many aces. I really like how our players battled through a tough second set loss with Waukon and recovered with great momentum in set three. Cresco played extremely well keeping the ball in play and putting us in some tough spots. We will look to build off of many positives from the evening,” said Coach Alex Smith.
Saturday tourney
Saturday, the Warriors went 1-2 on the day at the New Hampton tournament, dropping matches to ranked Denver and Don Bosco teams and picking up a win over a UIC opponent in Turkey Valley.
South Winn fell to Class 1A No. 6, Don Bosco, 12-21 and 10-21, and rebounded to beat the Trojans 21-11 and 21-11 before dropping a tough match to Class 2A No. 4 Denver, 8-21 and 15-21.
“I was proud of how our group competed on the day and persevered through tough moments. It is always good to see high level teams that you know will make you better if you come out on the other side in the right mindset. We continued to serve well and I was pleased how we were able to connect with all our hitting options through our passers and setters being dialed in throughout the day,” said Coach Smith.
Performances highlighted the day, with an 11 kill and 10 dig performance by K. Hageman, while Humpal went 26-for-28 at the line with one ace. Luzum served 15-for-15 with one ace and handed out 11 assists while Theis dished out 11 assists and went 14-for-14 at the service line. Franzen and Wagner provided five kills apiece, with Wagner coming up with 10 digs as well.
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