Volleyball Downs No. 9 Midland in Four Sets
Fremont- Going into Wednesday, the Hastings College volleyball team and Midland had a lot riding on their matchup that ended in a 26-24,21-25,25-14,25-11 road win for the Broncos.
Set one started evenly before the Warriors (17-7,10-4 GPAC) created some space between them and the Broncos (21-1,13-1 GPAC), getting their lead to as large as 6. Trailing 22-16 late in the set, Hastings got themselves back into the set with a 6-0 run started by an Andrea LaVene (SR/Roca, NE) kill and ending with a kill by Sage Meyer (JR/Bellevue, NE), with a Casey Krolikowski (JR/Cairo, NE) ace and three Warrior errors in between to tie it 22-22. Along with the 6-0 run, Hastings took 10 of the last 12 rallies to win the set 26-24.
Hastings used their momentum from the previous set in set two, taking an early 8-3 lead. Midland answered with a 6-1 run to tie the set at 9 a piece and fought tooth-and-nail with Hastings to an 18-18 tie. A 6-2 run was all the Warriors needed to propel themselves to a set two win over the Broncos and tie the match going into intermission.
In set three, Hastings came out slugging to an early 12-5 lead over the Warriors. That lead quickly swelled into as much as an 11-point lead for the Broncos en route to a 25-14 set three victory.
It took little time in set four for the Broncos to duplicate their set three success against Midland, going ahead as much as eight midway through the set. With a 21-11 lead, a Warrior error and kills from Meyer, Lucy Skoch (FR/Hastings, NE), and Katie Placke (SR/Grand Island, NE) ended the set and match.
Leading the Broncos was Placke with 11 kills, 19 assists, 11 digs, and a service ace. LaVene and Meyer reached double-digits in kills with 14 and 12 kills, respectively.
With the win, the Broncos kept themselves in pace with Northwestern (26-2,13-1 GPAC), who downed Morningside in straight sets on Wednesday, in the GPAC standings prior to their 5 p.m. rematch in Orange City, Iowa on Saturday.
