Volleyball Sweeps Past Braves
Hastings - The Hastings College volleyball team earned yet another sweep this time taking down the Ottawa Braves 25-21, 25-22, 25-14 on Friday night in Lynn Farrell Arena.
Set one saw both teams go back-and-forth and midway through the set, Hastings held onto a 14-12 lead. It was at this point the Broncos grabbed control of the first set.
Katie Placke (SR/Grand Island, NE), who had yet another fantastic night ripped off a kill off the Clare Hamburger (JR/Hastings, NE) assist to make it 15-12. Placke then backed that up with a service ace followed by a kill from Cassidy Ostrand (SO/Central City, NE) to push the lead to 17-12.
Then Andrea LaVene (SR/Roca, NE) picked up a solo block followed by a kill from Ostrand and then an attack error which now had the Bronco lead up to 20-12 where Hastings went on to take set one 25-21.
Set two certainly had a different feel to it as Ottawa came out and really put HC back on its heels building a 12-6 lead which prompted Head Coach Matt Buttermore to call his first timeout of the set.
"They weren't giving us any freebees and we were making poor plays so when they got a chance, they were scoring," Buttermore continued. "And obviously quit hitting the ball out of bounds would help out too."
The Broncos came out of that timeout with a completely different mindset running off five straight points with the help of a service ace from Emily Filsinger (SR/Clearwater, NE) and two kills from LaVene.
The teams would then trade points as the set stood tied 19-19 when Placke came up with another ace coupled with an attack error by the Braves now had Hastings leading 21-19. The Broncos would finish off set two with kills from Catherine Williams (SR/Aurora, CO) and Placke to win 25-22.
Hastings would then have its way in set three to claim the sweep.
All-American Placke had yet another stellar night with a match high 16 kills while hitting nearly .700 for the match. Krolikowski added 11 kills while hitting .364 as Williams added eight kills while hitting .353. As a team, the Broncos hit .347 while holding the Braves to .098.
Buttermore talked about Placke's play after the match, "We would like to be going on all cylinders as a team and we did at times but she was definitely consistent for all three sets."
Placke led the team with 21 assists while Hamburger added 18 assists.
Hastings moves to 8-0 on the year and will be back in action Wednesday Sept. 6 opening up Great Plains Athletic Conference action as No. 15 Doane comes to town with first serve set for 7:30 p.m. in Lynn Farrell Arena.
