Lady ’Cats drop heart-breaker to Homer

HARTINGTON — The Hartington-Newcastle volleyball team dropped a couple of matches over the past week.

The Lady Wildcats were defeated by Plainview on the road Sept. 28, 25-22, 30-28 and 25-20 in the best-of-five-sets match.

On Sept. 25, Hartington-Newcastle went the distance with Homer at home, but fell, 1225, 25-18, 25-21, 20-25 and 13-15.

In the Lewis and Clark Conference match with the Lady Pirates, Hartington-Newcastle settled in and made a match of it for the first two sets.

“Once we were able to sit back and relax, we had positive serve-receive and serving,” Lady Wildcats head coach Sarah Edwards said. “Our defense was strong all night, but Plainview hit the ball really well. It was a great game, but an unfortunate loss.”

It took five extra points for the Lady Pirates to take the second set and go up 2-0 in the match.

Hartington-Newcastle’s Lauren Howell did the most damage at the net, slamming 10 winners in the match. Mani Lange added eight; Zoey Gratzfeld and McKenzie Bruning each had six. Bruning, Howell and Gratzfeld each had an ace serve and Olivia Grutsch distributed 31 set-assists.

Lange made good on 24 serve-receive chances, Abi Rice hit on 20 and Howell returned a dozen. Defensively, Grutsch had 24 digs, Howell 14, Rice 13, and Kendra Anderson dug out 12 volleyballs.

In the match with the Lady Knights, the competition went the distance as Homer held on for the 15-13 final score in the race to 15 in set five. Homer won the opening set before the Lady Wildcats got back in the match, taking sets two and three to go up 2-1.

“We worked so hard in this match and demonstrated great determination,” Edwards said. “I know we left everything on the court and I was proud of our hard work.”

Howell was again the top hitter, slamming 16 kills on the night. Lange added eight; Gratzfeld and Bruning each had seven winners. Grutsch and Maddie Steffen contributed three apiece.

Grutsch also had a couple of ace serves and 31 assists in the match.

Rice had 31 digs, Lange and Howell each had 23 and Grutsch earned a double-double with 22 digs to go along with her assists.

In serve-receive, Rice registered 37 good passes; Lange had 19.

Hartington-Newcastle was set to take on Randolph on Oct. 3 at home before heading to Laurel-Concord-Coleridge to take on the Lady Bears on Oct. 5. The Lady Wildcats will host their own invitational on Oct. 7.

Plainview 25 30 25 HNS 22, 28 25 HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE (6-10): Abi Rice 13d, 20r; Mani Lange 8k, 1b, 8d, 24r; Zoey Gratzfeld 6k, 1a, 3b, 5d; Kendra Anderson 12d, 5r; Lauren Howell 10k, 1a, 2b, 14d, 12r; Olivia Grutsch 1b, 24d, 31s, 1r; Maddie Steffen 3k, 1b, 1d, 1s; Mckenzie Bruning 6k, 1a, 3b, 1d, 2r; Emma Wubben 1r. Homer 12 25 25 20 15 HNS 25 18 21 25 13 HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Rice 31d, 37r; Lange 8k, 23d, 1s, 19r; Gratzfeld 7k, 1a, 2b, 8d, 2r; Anderson 12d, 12r; Howell 16k, 23d, 3r; Grutsch 3k, 2a, 22d, 31s, 1r; Steffen 3k, 7d, 2s, 1r; Bruning 7k, 2d, 1s; Wubben 2d.