Cyclones fall to pair of state-ranked H-10 squads
HARLAN (Oct. 8) -- Despite its recent struggles, the Harlan Community volleyball team continues to show enough promise in spurts to hint at a late-season surge.
Tuesday was still not the night, however, for it all to come together.
Despite holding a late lead or being in position to win four out of seven sets against a pair of tough Hawkeye Ten foes, the Cyclones finished the job just once in their home triangular, losing to 13th-ranked (4A) Glenwood in four sets (19-25, 25-17, 22-25, 20-25) and 2nd-ranked (1A) St. Albert in three (17-25, 22-25, 22-25).
HCHS dropped to 9-17 overall and 3-5 in conference play and has now lost 10 of its last 12 matches.
St. Albert, which held off Glenwood in five between the two Harlan matches (25-19, 25-20, 19-25, 21-25, 15-10), improved to 19-8 overall and 5-2 in the H-10, tied with the Rams (18-8, 5-2) for fourth place.
“Those were two high-quality matches... They were highly competitive,” said HCHS head coach Willie Baughman, noting that his squad must still cut down on its number of attack errors to get over the hump.
The Cyclones led St. Albert 20-16 in set two and 16-11 in set three but were unable to finish either time.
“We had 21 (errors) in the Glenwood game and 16 in the St. Albert game,” Baughman said. “If we cut those to 12 and eight, those scores are so much different. That’s what we’ve really been hammering on, just cutting them in half."
HCHS has lost to three state-ranked teams since switching to a 5-1 offense last week vs. Red Oak, but Baughman feels like progress is being made.
Glenwood 25-17-25-25, HCHS 19-25-22-20
Harlan Community Stat Leaders:
Serving: 79/86 (91.9%), 5 aces -- Macie Leinen 23/25, 2 aces; Elise Juhl 14/14, 2 aces; Haley Manz 12/13, 1 ace. Attacks: 151/172, 42 kills, .122 kill eff. -- Zophi Hendricks 31/35, 10 kills (.171); Lauren Andersen 24/26, 9 kills (.269); Leinen 30/38, 8 kills (.000); Juhl 28/29, 7 kills (.207); Claire Schmitz 22/26, 6 kills. Assists: 39 -- Manz 38. Blocks: 8 -- Schmitz 3 (1 solo), Leinen 3. Digs: 100 -- Ashley Hall 36, Hendricks 22, Juhl 19, Leinen 13. Serve Receive Average: 2.61/3.00 (84 att.) -- Hendricks 2.91 (22), Hall 2.61 (18), Juhl 2.59 (29).
St. Albert 25-25-25, HCHS 17-22-22
Harlan Community Stat Leaders
Serving: 55/63 (87.3%), 5 aces -- Elise Juhl 12/13, 3 aces; Haley Manz 11/12, 1 ace; Zophi Hendricks 11/11; Dani Arkfeld 7/7, 1 ace. Attacks: 86/102, 25 kills, .088 kill eff. -- Lauren Andersen 18/23, 9 kills (.174); Hendricks 16/18, 5 kills (.167); Claire Schmitz 14/16, 5 kills (.188). Assists: 23 -- Manz 22. Blocks: 6 -- Macie Leinen 2, Schmitz 2. Digs: 62 -- Ashley Hall 16, Juhl 16, Hendricks 13. Serve Receive Average: 2.16/3.00 (63 att.) -- Jandy Petersen 3.00 (1), Hall 2.25 (24), Leinen 2.25 (8), Hendricks 2.25 (8).