Lady Bears sweep past Lady Wildcats

LAUREL — Hartington-Newcastle started strong in a Lewis and Clark Conference showdown with Laurel-Concord-Coleridge on Oct. 5 on the volleyball court, but once the Lady Bears caught them in the opening set,they went by and stayed in front on the way to a 25-14,25-9 and 25-13 sweep over the Lady Wildcats.

Hartington-Newcastle opened the match with a block by Lauren Howell, but Laurel-Concord-Coleridge answered with a winner by Mallory Eriksen.

After a Lady Bear service error, Eriksen slammed another one to the court on the Lady Wildcat side of the net to even the set again,2-2.

Mani Lange got the lead back for Hartington-Newcastle with a kill,but Eriksen, who would finish with 11 winners on the night, smacked another one and served an ace to put LCC up, 4-3.

A Lady Bear service error, followed by a kill from Zoey Gratzfeldoff the hands of the block and another slam by Howell, put Hartington-Newcastle in front, 6-4.

The Lady Wildcats were called for two hits, but another Gratzfeld slam and a four-hit call by the Lady Bears pushed the HNS lead up to 8-5.

The Lady Bears then went on a 7-0 run to take over the set. A back row kill by Eriksen, an ace serve by Carlie Kvols and a second-hit winner from Kvols started the run.

A winner from Tali Erwin followed a couple of Hartington-Newcastle errors and caused Lady Wildcats coach Sarah Edwards to call a timeout.

Another LCC kill followed the timeout before Howell stopped the run witha winner in the middle to make it 12-9.

A Rena Rasmussen kill off the block and an Erwin ace serve madeit 14-9, but Howell, who would finish with four kills in the match, answered again to make it 14-10.

Another LCC run left the score 19-10 and the Lady Bears went on to take set one by the 25-14 final.

A McKenzie Bruning ace serve gave the Lady Wildcats a 3-2 lead in the second race to 25, but a service error and back-to-back kills by Erwin put the Lady Bears in front, 5-3.