Lady ’Cats compete at Creighton

CREIGHTON — Hartington-Newcastle volleyball sandwiched a sweep over Creighton between a couple of losses at the Creighton Invitational Sept. 9, defeating the Lady Bulldogs 25-20 and 25-21 in the best-of-threesets match.

The Lady Wildcats lost in three sets to West Holt 25-18, 13-25 and 18-25 in their final match of the tournament and lost their opener to Summerland 18-25 and 15-25 to sit at 5-5 on the season.

Against West Holt, HNS won the first set, but struggled to maintain the momentum as they fell to the Lady Huskies.

Karli and McKenzie Bruning led the Lady Wildcats’ attack with seven and six kills, respectively.

Zoey Gratzfeld and Olivia Grutsch each added four winners.

Lauren Howell had 15 digs in the match, followed by McKenzie Bruning with eight, Karli Bruning with seven and Gratzfeld and Mani Lange with six each.

Gratzfeld also had 19 set assists to start the offense.

Lange distributed 21 successful passes and Howell had 15.

Hartington-Newcastle used a balanced attack to dispose of Creighton in the second round of the tourney.

Lange, Gratzfeld and McKenzie Bruning all had six winners in the match. Howell added four and also had a couple of ace serves.

McKenzie Bruning was a force at the net with four blocks; Lange and Grutsch each added two stops.

Howell and Lange had nine digs; Grutsch dug out seven slams.

Grutsch again started the offense with 19 assists; Howell and Lange had 12 and 11 successful passes and Abi Rice had seven.

In the opening match for Hartington- Newcastle against the Lady Bobcats, the Lady Wildcats seemed a bit out of sync and were swept in the match.

Once again, they had a balanced attack, with Howell swinging six winners, Lange and McKenzie Bruning five and Gratzfeld four.

Grutsch had 18 set-assists and Rice recorded 16 successful passes.

Lange had 13 passes and Howell had 12.

HNS is set to travel to Wynot on Sept. 14 to take on the 5-1 Lady Blue Devils in Lewis and Clark Conference action before a home date with Bloomfield on Sept. 19.

\\West Holt defeats Hartington-Newcastle 18-25, 25-13, 25-18. HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE (5-5): Mani Lange 6k, 1a, 6d, 1s, 21r; Hazel Hochstein 1s; Zoey Gratzfeld 4k, 1b, 6d, 19s; Kendra Anderson 1k, 2d, 2s, 2r; Lauren Howell 1k, 15d, 1s, 15r; Olivia Grutsch 4k, 1s; Maddie Steffen 1b, 3d, 2s, 4r; Karli Bruning 7k, 7d, 1s, 4r; McKenzie Bruning 6k, 2b, 8d, 1s, 2r; Emma Wubben 1d. Hartington-Newcastle defeats Creighton 25-20, 25-21. HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Abi Rice 2d, 2s, 7r; Lange 6k, 1a, 2b, 9d, 1s, 11r; Gratzfeld 6k, 1b, 2d, 1r; Howell 4k, 2a, 9d, 2s, 12r; Grutsch 2k, 2b, 7d, 19s; Steffen 1k, 1b, 2d, 1s; K. Bruning 5d, 4r; M. Bruning 6k, 5b, 1d. Summerland defeats Hartington-Newcastle 25-18, 25-15. HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Rice 5d, 1s, 16r; Lange 5k, 1b, 5d, 13r; Gratzfeld 4k, 2b, 4d, 1r; Howell 6k, 9d, 12r; Grutsch 1a, 6d, 18s, 1r; Steffen 1b, 3d, 1s, 1r; M. Bruning 5k.