Lady Wildcats drop a pair

SOUTH SIOUX CITY - Hartington- Newcastle’s volleyball team has run into some tough luck and a little adversity.

A couple of injuries has led to coach Sarah Edwards shifting some players around to new positions.

“We have fallen to some injuries and we are trying to quickly adjust to different positions,” Edwards said. “I am proud of the girls for keeping their positive attitude during times of adversity.”

The Lady Wildcats traveled to South Sioux City on Sept. 19 to take on the 4-6 Lady Cardinals who are a Class A school.

Hartington-Newcastle was never really in the match as South Sioux City swept the Lady Wildcats 25-10, 25-12 and 25-6.

McKenzie Bruning was the leader of the HNS attack with six kills in the match, freshman, Ella Eickhoff contributed four.

Vayda Lippert had nine assists while Hazel Hochstein tipped up eight set assists.

Abi Rice had a nice match in the back row with nine digs and 19 successful passes.

Summerland came to Hartington on Sept. 17 to take on the Lady Wildcats and took home a 25-11, 25-18 and 25-22 sweep over Hartington-Newcastle to improve to 7-5 on the season.

The Lady Wildcat offense struggled in the match and only came up with 13 kills over the three sets.

Lippert and Bruning each hit three winners, Eickhoff and Maddie Steffen managed two apiece.

Steffen served a couple of aces and had a pair of blocks while Lippert contributed 10 digs.

Rice had 14 quality service returns.

Hartington-Newcastle will be at home for its next two matches when they were to host Homer on Sept. 24 then welcome in Bancroft-Rosalie on Sept. 26. Both matches are best-of-five-sets.

k=Kills, a=Ace Serves, b=Blocks, d=Digs, s=Set Assists, r=Successful Pass.

S. Sioux City def, HNS 25-10, 25-12, 25-6. HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE (6-9): Abi Rice 9d, 19r; Justyce Sohl 1d, 2r; Hazel Hochstein 3d, 8s; Ella Eickhoff 4k, 1a, 1d; Maddie Steffen 2k, 1b, 7d, 8r; Vayda Lippert 2k, 1a, 1b, 7d, 9s, 5r; Myrisa Lammers 1k, 2d; Cohen Paden 1k, 4d, 6r; McKenzie Bruning 6k, 3b, 3d, 9r; Karissa Bruning 1k, 1d. Summerland def. HNS 25-11, 25-18, 25-22 HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Rice 2d, 14r; Sohl 2d, 1r; Hochstein 2d, 4s; Eickhoff 2k, 1d; Steffen 2k, 2a, 2b, 5d, 8r; Lippert 3k, 1a, 10d, 6s, 1r; Lammers 1k, 1r; Paden 1k, 3d, 5r; M. Bruning 3k, 2b, 8d, 1s, 13r; K. Bruning 1k, 1d, 1r.