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HAWARDEN — From one year to the next you hope your team can better the outcome from a year earlier. But there are several intangibles can can stand in the way. South O’Brien discovered that on Saturday at the West Sioux Invitational. They opened the tournament on a high-note with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) win over Woodbury Central.
The final two matches saw the Wolverines face Rock Valley and Trinity Christian, both resulting in losses. The Wolverines forced three sets against Rock Valley before falling (11-21, 21-13, 10-15). Against Trinity Christian, the Tigers defeated the Wolverines for the sixth consecutive meetings between the two schools dating back to October 2021. South O’Brien fell 24-26, 18-21 to Trinity Christian.
Rock Valley stretched their win streak to four matches against South O’Brien, which in turn ended a four match wins streak by the Wolverines (Sept. 2018 — Sept. 2020).
“Overall, we played much better than last year, even after spotting our opponents a few points. That continues to be a simple fix problem that we haven’t fixed yet. But our attitudes were night and day different from when we played at this tournament last year. Today we came ready to play.”
Heather Schmidt, South O’Brien head volleyball coach
South O’Brien opened the tournament picking up its third straight win in as many meetings, and four of the last five meetings have gone the Wolverines way against Woodbury Central. In the win, the Wolverines finished with a .151 kill efficiency, compared to -.065 for Woodbury Central. South O’Brien finished the match with 16 kills, led by Chloe Hustedt with six. Ashlynn Gunnerson finished with 13 of the Wolverine’s 14 assists.
“Chloe Hustedt did a great job all around for us. Her hustle on the court kept us in play during some pivotal moments. Raegan Plagge and Taylor Wulf also put in a great offensive and defensive performance. Out go-to-passers are doing a better job as well. Addison Hedberg had a nice outing in the back row and continues to improve.”
Amy Schmidt, South O’Brien head volleyball coach
Hedberg finished the match against Woodbury Central coming away with 11 digs. Plagge registered a pair of key blocks, Wulf finished the match a perfect 16-for-16 serving with two aces against the Wildcats.
After faltering in the first set against Rock Valley, South O’Brien showed some resiliency and earned the eight point second set win. The Rockets fueled their way past South O’Brien in the third and decisive set. Rock Valley capitalized on a height advantage at the net against the Wolverines to pick up the match win.
Rock Valley’s Miylie Zomer had a match-best 17 assists, adding six digs to her credits. Brynlie Zomer led the Rockets with a match-best eight kills. The Rockets also had five blocks against South O’Brien. They served at a 87.5 percent (42-for-48) clip, finishing with four aces.For the Wolverines, Gunnerson finished with all 15 of the teams assists. She also posted 12 digs. Reese Farquhar also had 12 digs for South O’Brien, who finished with 44 digs as a team. The team was near perfect at the service line, finishing 42-for-43 (97.7%) with one ace. Wulf finished 8-for-8, Hedberg was 8-for-8, and Farquhar went 9-for-9.
“Reese and Ashlynn did a great job in the digs category. The nice part about Ashlynn being able to get digs for us, because she is one of our best passers, is the fact other girls aren’t afraid to step up and set our hitters. Except for giving up some unforced errors, our girls played pretty scrappy and overall, improved our play.”
Amy Schmidt, South O’Brien head volleyball coach
In was a frustrating loss to Trinity Christian, but can become motivation at the same time. The Wolverines will have the opportunity to face the Tigers once more at the Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Tournament this Saturday, and set them a third time in a War Eagle Conference matchup October 1 in Paullina.
“Although the outcome was not what we wanted, I was really pleased with Reese’s effort all around. She isn’t out go-to hitter but comes up with some nice kills when we need them most. Her passing and digging were spot on. Addison Hedberg has another nice match as our libero. Her serving is back on track from earlier in the season. Overall, I was pleased with out effort.”
Amy Schmidt, South O’Brien head volleyball coach
Plagge and Hustedt tied Trinity Christian’s Ava Klein for match-best honors in kills each player finishing with seven. Klein had a whoppin’ .455 kill efficiency. The Tigers as a team finished at a .264 kill efficiency. In comparison, South O’Brien finished with a .197 kill efficiency. But saw strong percentages from Wulf (.308), Farquhar (.308), Plagge (.286), and Hustedt (.235). Gunnerson finished with 23 assists. Farquhar and Hedeberg finished with 12 and 11 digs, respectively. Hedberg finished a flawless 8-for-8 serving for the Wolverines.
FINAL TEAM RECORDS: Rock Valley 2-1, Trinity Christian 2-1, George-Little Rock 1-2, South O’Brien 1-2, and host West Sioux 0-3.
Woodbury Central 15 – 17
South O’Brien 21 – 21
Woodbury Central Record: 6-5 | South O’Brien Record: 4-7
South O’Brien Statistics
Assists (14) — Ashlynn Gunnerson 13, Reese Farquhar 1.
Kills (16 | Kill Eff: .151) — Chloe Hustedt 6, Raegan Plagge 4, Tori Schueller 3, Taylor Wulf 2, Farquhar 1.
Digs (15) — Addison Hedberg 11, Gunnerson 8, Hustedt 8, Farquhar 6, Plagge 4, Wulf 3, Abby Nelson 3, Schueller 1.
Blocks (5.0) — Plagge 2.0 (2 S), Farquhar 1.0 (1 S), Hustedt 1.0 (1 S), Schueller .50 (1 A), Wulf .50 (1 A).
Serving (Mininum 7 attempts): (38-41 92.7% 4 aces) — Wulf 16-16-2 (100%), Hedberg 7-8 (87.5%).
Rock Valley 21 – 13 – 15
South O’Brien 11 – 21 -10
Rock Valley Record: 5-5 | South O’Brien Record: 4-8
South O’Brien Statistics
Assists (15) — Ashlynn Gunnerson 15.
Kills (17 | Kill Eff: .034) — Chloe Hustedt 6, Taylor Wulf 6, Reese Farquhar 3, Raegan Plagge 2.
Digs (44) — Gunnerson 12, Farquhar 12, Addison Hedberg 6, Hustedt 5, Abby Nelson 5, Wulf 4.
Blocks (4.0) — Plagge 1.5 (3 A), Hustedt 1.5 (3 A), Schueller .50 (1 A), Wulf .50 (1 A).
Serving (Mininum 7 attempts): (42-43 97.7% 1 ace) — Farquhar 9-9 (100%), Wulf 8-8 (100%), Hedberg 8-8 (100%).
Trinity Christian 26 – 21
South O’Brien 24 – 18
Trinity Christian Record: 8-4 | South O’Brien Record: 4-9
South O’Brien Statistics
Assists (24) — Ashlynn Gunnerson 23, Reese Farquhar 1.
Kills (26 | Kill Eff: .197) — Raegan Plagge 7 (.286), Chloe Hustedt 7 (.235), Farquhar 5 (.308), Wulf 5 (.308), Lindsey Einck 1, Tori Schueller 1.
Digs (47) — Farquhar 12, Addison Hedberg 11, Wulf 6, Gunnerson 5, Hustedt 5, Plagge 3, Schueller 2, Einck 2, Abby Nelson 2, Lindsey Einck 1.
Blocks (2.0) — Wulf 1.0 (12 A), Farquhar .50 (1 A), Schueller .50 (1 A).
Serving (Mininum 7 attempts): (39-43 90.7 1 ace) — Wulf 8-8 (100%), Hedberg 8-8 (100%), Hustedt 7-7 (100%), Farquhar 6-8-1 (75%).
