Takin’ it to the Huskies

     Just one look at the scores told you how well New Hampton’s volleyball team played Tuesday at Oelwein. But if that’s not enough, just listen to head coach Jess Geerts.    “Last night we started strong, stayed strong, and finished strong.” she said. “There was no letting them play with us. Every game, the only close times were in the beginning that I can recall.”    And the girls started with quite a bang, beating the Huskies 25-7. The other two sets were a little closer, but not much as the Chickasaws won those 25-13 and 25-14.    During the season Oelwein — which went to 13-13 with the loss — averaged 7.25 kills per set and nearly two aces per set, but for the three-set match were only allowed 13 kills and two aces by the Chickasaws.    “We definitely played our game. We focused on three things — serving, passing and our tempo of offense. We did a great job serving, only missing a handful vs. 14!”    The “14” Geerts mentioned was the number of aces fired by the team, the thing is, 11 of those came from Kerigan Tenge while the junior was going 17-for-18 at the line.    In the past 10 years, no Chickasaw volleyball player has had a night of double-digit aces, the closest came when Alex Burrett had nine in 2010, but she was 39-for-40 serving, giving her many more chances for the ace.
    The rest of the article may be found in the Sept. 29 Tribune.