Volleyball Goes 2-0 to Open 2023 Campaign
Hastings, NE – The Hastings College volleyball team began the 2023 campaign by going 2-0 on day one of the Hastings College Classic on Friday inside Lynn Farrell Arena. The Lady Broncos held on for a five set victory over Mid-America Christian in game one and then swept and very talented Oklahoma Wesleyan team in game two.
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
25 | 21 | 23 | 0 |
|
|
27 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Team Stats
| Game Statistics | Oklahoma Wesleyan | Hastings |
|---|---|---|
| Hitting % | .213 | .224 |
| Blocks | 9.0 | 7.0 |
| Digs | 33 | 29 |
| Aces | 8 | 11 |
Hastings, NE – The Hastings College volleyball team began the 2023 campaign by going 2-0 on day one of the Hastings College Classic on Friday inside Lynn Farrell Arena. The Lady Broncos held on for a five set victory over Mid-America Christian in game one and then swept and very talented Oklahoma Wesleyan team in game two.
Hastings struggled to find its feet with a few new faces on the court as MACU opened up a 22-15 lead in set one. But following a service error, HC began a furious comeback behind the serve of Makenna Asher as she led the run off with an ace.
Then Asher connected with Kaitlin Thiebauth in the middle for a kill to make it 22-18. Then back-to-back service aces from Asher forcing an Evangel timeout with Hastings trailing 22-20.
The Lady Broncos were not done yet scoring three of the next four points highlighted by a kill and an ace from Ilse Benne to tie things 23-23. But it wasn't enough as MACU scored the final two points to take the first set 25-23.
After falling behind 6-4 in set two, Asher worked the ball out to another fresh face in Arianna Gonzalez as she picked up the kill. Then Asher went to her experience pin Majesta Valasek for the kill to tie things 6-6.
A kill from Grace Branson, an error from MACU and a service ace from Sophie Stevens pitted Hastings to a 9-6 lead.
Then Hastings opened things up with a 6-0 run highlighted by three kills from Benne en route to a 25-17 set two win.
The teams would then split the next two sets forcing a decisive set five where Hastings would absolutely dominate to take the match 3-2 by winning set five 15-5.
Benne started her career off with a bang leading the team with 20 kills while hitting .436. Valasek added 15 kills while hitting .306.
Asher just missed a double-double with 45 assists and nine digs. Valasek and Miriam Miller led the way with 17 digs each.
Hastings finished the match hitting .259 while the Evangels hit .282. The difference in the match was Hastings' 18 service aces to just seven for Mid-America Christian.
Game two against Oklahoma Wesleyan may have been a sweep but two of the three sets were decided by just two points in the end.
The Lady Broncos opened up what seemed to be a comfortable 23-19 lead but the Eagles rattled off five straight points to lead 24-23 but Asher snuck a kill home to tie things at 24. OKWU answered with a kill from Evelyn Rohrberg but two kills from Benne and an attack error from Oklahoma Wesleyan's Tijana Stojiljkovic gave set one to HC at 27-25.
Set two was tight throughout until a little 5-1 run late in the set gave the momentum over to Hastings which was highlighted by a kill from Branson and an ace from Stevens.
The Lady Broncos jumped out to a nice 14-7 lead but it was quickly erased by a 6-0 run from the Eagles as the teams battled right to the end of set three. And again, two big kills from Benne finished out the set 25-23 to complete the sweep.
Valasek led the way with 13 kills while hitting .367. Benne finished with 13 kills but hit just .094. Asher led the way with 32 assists. Miller led the team with 10 digs.
Hastings hit .224 while the Eagles hit just .213 in the match.
Hastings is now 2-0 on the year and will be back in action Saturday rounding out the Hasting College Classic taking on Bethel (KS) at noon followed by a matchup with Kansas Wesleyan at 2:00 pm inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
