The Hampton-Dumont-CAL volleyball team hosted the first-ever varsity athletic event in the school’s new gym Thursday, but West Fork crashed the party by defeating the Bulldogs in a five-set nailbiter, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ. The set scores were 18-25, 25-22, 25-21, 22-25, 15-12.
The Bulldogs found an early stride by pulling away for the widest margin of victory in the opening set. But West Fork settled in as the second set went on and tied the match. The Warhawks were seemingly on cruise control, taking a 10-1 lead to start set 3. The Bulldogs fought back, cutting the deficit to one at 20-19, but the Warhawks finished the job. West Fork led by as many as 15-5 in set 4, and appeared to be on their way to a 3-1 win. But Madison Heilskov and Maren Subbert used big swings over the net to score five straight points and send the match to a fifth set. West Fork dominated to begin set 5, and Zada Huff had several service aces to give the Warhawks a boost. Setter Abby Schoning says the team bounced back from a sour fourth set to take control in set 5.
“I think we just kind of had an issue with finishing the set on that one,” Schoning says. “We really thought that we had the game during the fourth set there, so I think we let loose a little bit. But during the fifth set, we said, ‘hey, we have to go and we have to take this set right now. All out, every single ball.'”
Huff was proud of the team for pulling through in a rivalry atmosphere.
“It’s really the energy for me, I really thrive off the energy and just being loud and the whole team being hype,” Huff says. “And like Abby said, we are rivals and it is a tough game and it’s a fun game to win.”
Head Coach Emily Greimann says it was an impressive fifth set.
“Set five is always a fight to the death,” Greimann says. “It’s always every point matters. Everything is just a little bit extra hype, a little bit extra intense. So for them to just dig deep and continue to fight through, the whole thing was really huge for them. I think they needed that just to prove to themselves that they can and that they will. This is one of the first times that we’ve won a five-set game historically. So for them to go out there and prove that to themselves, that’s huge. And to do it the first game of the season, that makes you just so excited about what’s to come.”
Bulldog coach Sarah Miller says the team will grow from the experience.
“It definitely comes down to our inconsistencies,” Miller says. “Our communication wasn’t always as strong as we needed it to be. And definitely our serve reception was off big time tonight. We have to go back in the gym and really be working on creating those angles and creating those opportunities for our setters to run our offense. But I want to also give credit, we were down by nine at one point in time and had come back in battles. Our drive is there, our want is there. And we have a young team. But I don’t think that that should be the excuse. I think we just have to keep on working on those fundamentals and making sure that we’re putting everything together.”
In their next action, West Fork will take part in a tournament at Garner Hayfield Ventura Saturday. Hampton-Dumont-CAL will begin North Central Conference action at St. Edmond on Thursday, September 4.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-5ylvHghFQ?si=Qh70US7a0O1S5VBl&w=560&h=315]
Emily Greimann interview:
Sarah Miller interview:
