Ostrand Leads Volleyball to Sweep of Mustangs
Hastings - The Hastings College volleyball team had a few scares from the Morningside Mustangs but were able to fend them off in its 25-23, 25-16, 25-18 on Friday night in Lynn Farrell Arena.
The first set was tight as the Broncos and Mustangs went back-and-forth all the way to a 20-20 tie. Following a set error from the Mustangs, Emily Filsinger (SR/Clearwater, NE) would record a service ace giving Hastings the 22-120 lead.
An attack error from Jayde Bergmann and then another set error pushed the Bronco lead to 24-20. Facing match point, Morningside ran off three straight points before Andrea LaVene (SR/Roca, NE) sealed the set one win with a block.
Set two did not get off the the start the Broncos were looking for as Morningside opened up a 6-1 lead prompting a time out from Head Coach Matt Buttermore.
We had not really been winning at the net and we need to do a better job of that," Buttermore said. "We had not passed well starting set one through to set two. They also served very well I thought and didn't hardly miss any serves probably in the first set and a half. They do a good job of hitting hard serves and keeping them in so it was those things that kind of caught us off guard a little bit I think but then we did a better job of being aggressive through the rest of the match."
From there Hastings ran off 11 of the next 13 points highlighted by a kill from Catherine Williams (SR/Aurora, CO), a double block from Williams and LaVene and a few Mustang errors to tie the set 8-8.
The Broncos were then able to get some seperation with a Katie Placke (SR/Grand Island, NE) kill followed by a Casey Krolikowski (JR/Cairo, NE) ace. Then Cassidy Ostrand (SO/Central City, NE) picked up a kill backed up by another Placke kill pushing the lead to 12-8. HC would eventually run away with set two 25-16.
With set three tied 5-5, the Broncos would go on the attack as Ostrand picked up two kills while Krolikowski and Placke added kills increasing the Bronco lead to 9-5.
Morningside made one more little run getting to within one at 12-11 but that would be as close as they would get with Hastings taking the sweep with the third set 25-18 victory.
Ostrand led the Bronco attack with 12 kills while hitting .333 for the night.
"She did what she does well which is pass and then hit," Buttermore continued. "She had some nice sideouts for us so it was good to see."
Krolikowski added 11 kills while Placke finished with seven kills and Williams added five kills. Lucy Skoch (FR/Hastings, NE) made her presence felt at the net having a hand in on seven blocks as Hastings finished with eight team blocks.
The Hastings defense held the Mustang attack in check as Morningside hit just .076 for the match. Hastings hit .204 for the match and recorded seven service aces.
Jill Bax (SR/Lincoln, NE) led the back line with 20 digs and three service aces. Clare Hamburger (JR/Hastings, NE) led the Broncos with 20 assists while Placke finished with 16 assists.
Hastings improves to 19-1 (11-1) on the year and will be back in action Saturday Oct. 21 as No. 6 Dordt comes to town for a rematch of last years national championship match. First serve is set for 3:00 p.m. in Lynn Farrell Arena.
