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Warriors finish as conference runner-up
North Mahaska finishes season undefeated in conference play
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
BELLE PLAINE — The North Mahaska volleyball team took home the title SICL Tournament Champions Thursday night at Belle Plaine High School.
The Warhawks defeated HLV-TC in four sets in the championship match. It was the second straight year the Warriors advanced to the championship match.
It’s been quite the season for the Warhawks who are now 20-1 on the season heading into regional play.
They’re a great team, and we let a few errors get the best of us,“ HLV-TC head coach Kayla Chizek said. ”But we had fight toward the end of each set which I loved to see.“
In set one, it was the Warriors who got off to a quick lead after a few Ema Roberts kills and Warhawks’ miscues.
The score was 8-7 when the Warriors went on a run that took the score to 16-10 and forced a Warhawks timeout.
The teams traded 4-0 runs to end the match 20-14.
After that, the Warriors started making errors and the Warhawks rallied to take set one 25-21. They closed on an 11-1 run to end the set.
In set two, it was all Warhawks early.
Nataliya Linder, who played well all evening, helped offensively and defensively to open up an early 15-4 lead.
The Warriors rallied a few times in the second half of the match. A Lily Randall kill made the score 24-20, but the Warhawks closed with a kill from Regan Grewe to win set two 25-20.
The Warriors’ resilience was on display in set three. Down 21-14, they rallied to a 25-23 set victory with an 11-2 run.
Nicole Gensley had three kills in the rally, Randall added one, and Jordy Menicucci had the set winning kill.
Set four was much of the same. The Warhawks built a lead that was too much for the Warriors to overcome.
The score got as close as four near the end, at 24-20, but Linder sealed the match with a kill for the Warhawks.
Earlier in the evening, the Warriors faced Belle Plaine in a best-of-three semifinal matchup.
After a slow start in set one, the Warriors wound up with a 2-0 sweep.
The Plainsmen were up 9-4 when the Warriors began their 9-0 run to take control of the set. Randall got hot for the Warriors with three kills.
A Plainsmen block from Alli Hoover and Jules Stamp ended the run.
The Warriors built the lead to 19-13, but the Plainsmen pulled close one more time at 21-19. The set ended on a 4-0 Warriors run for a 25-19 set one victory.
The Plainsmen started with an early lead in set two after a Kayleah Laughlin kill, but miscues hurt them the whole set.
The score was close at 9-8, but the Warriors ended the match on a 16-2 run.
Ema Roberts helped the Warriors in set two with eight total kills.
Menicucci ended the set with three aces to get to a score of 24-10. An error gave the Warriors the 25-10 set victory.
“I thought we played great against Belle Plaine,” Chizek said. “Our energy was up from the get-go and we swung really well.”
The Warriors will host Iowa Valley in their first round of regional play Monday, and the Plainsmen will host English Valleys.
