Volleyball Goes 4-0 at HC Classic
Hastings, NE – The Hastings College volleyball team finished the Hastings College Classic 4-0 by defeating both Bethel (KS) and Kansas Wesleyan in four sets on Saturday afternoon inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
Hastings, NE – The Hastings College volleyball team finished the Hastings College Classic 4-0 by defeating both Bethel (KS) and Kansas Wesleyan in four sets on Saturday afternoon inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
The Lady Broncos would get off to a slow start in set one trailing 6-3 but a nice 4-0 run put Hastings up by one a 7-6. The Threshers countered with a 7-3 run opening up a 13-9 lead but Hastings had another answer getting kills from Grace Branson and Majesta Valasek to make it 13-11. Following an attack error by Bethel, Makenna Asher and ilse Benne picked up kills putting Hastings back on top 14-13.
It went back-and-forth from here until Hastings stole the momentum starting with a service error and a Thresher attack error to put HC up 20-19. Asher then went outside to Valasek for another kill. After a Bethel timeout, another Thresher error and then a kill from Branson made it 23-19. Hastings went on to close out the set 25-21.
Set three would also stay fairly tight as Hastings clung to a 23-20 lead but a kill from Kaitlin Thiebauth followed by a kill from Valasek gave set two to HC at 25-21 and a solid 2-0 lead.
Bethel would not go down without a fight winning set three 25-22.
This time Hastings would not wait as long to build a lead as a double block from Asher and Thiebauth made it 11-8 followed by back-to-back service aces from Asher pushed the lead to 13-8. From there, Hastings pushed the lead into double digits before winning set four 25-14 to take the match 3-1.
Valasek led the way with a double-double 13 kills and 14 digs while hitting .200. Benne added 12 kills while Thiebauth finished with a career high eight kills.
Asher led the way with 38 assists while Miriam Miller led the team with 22 digs.
Hastings finished the match hitting .172 while holding the Threshers to just .109.
Then in the final match of the classic, it was a battle of unbeatens as Kansas Wesleyan came in with a 5-0 mark with HC sitting at 3-0. Hastings came into this matchup winning five of the last matches dating back to 2008.
KWU came with what seemed to be a bit of a chip on it shoulder taking control of set one leading start to finish winning set one 25-21.
They did it again in set two opening up an 18-12 lead as Head Coach Alexandra Allard called a timeout and the momentum began shift in Hastings' direction.
The Lady Broncos cut the deficit to three behind a block from Nicole Haywood and Thiebauth plus a kill from Thiebauth. Following a kill from KWU's Rylee Serpan, Asher connected again with Valesak for the kill followed by another Serpan error made it 19-17.
Asher and Valasek connected again and you could feel the momentum shift. But the Coyotes opened the lead back to 22-18 but Hastings came right back with a 4-0 run highlighted by a Valasek kill and a double block from Asher and Branson to tie the set 22-22.
After KWU took the lead, Asher connected with Branson in the middle for the kill and following an attack error from KWU's Kylee Harris, Hastings was one point away from stealing set two. Another Harris attack error gave set two to Hastings at 25-23 along with the momentum.
Set three stayed fairly tight but a 4-0 run spearheaded by two kills from Asher and a kill from Benne pushed the lead to 20-14 as the Lady Broncos closed out set three 25-20 taking a 2-1 lead into set four.
Kansas Wesleyan pushed the Lady Broncos in set four opening up a 22-20 lead but Asher connected with Dacey Sealy for the kill to make it 22-21. Following another Harris attack error, Asher worked the middle to Thiebauth for the kills as Hastings regained the lead 23-22.
Following a Hastings service error, Asher went back to Sealey for the kill and then Asher went out to her closer Valasek for the kill to end the match with the emphatic kill as Hastings won set four 25-23.
Valasek had a match high 18 kills while hitting .188 to go along with her 14 digs while Thiebauth added seven kills while hitting .316. Asher led the way with a double-double with 37 assists and 11 digs. She also finished with 11 digs and six kills while hitting .625 for the match.
Miller finished with a team high 22 digs.
Hastings finished the match hitting .135 while holding the Coyotes to just .079.
The Lady Broncos improve to 4-0 on the year and will be back in action Tuesday Aug. 29 as No. 4 Concordia comes to town with first serve set for 7:30 pm inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
