Hawks get nicked three times in loss to Mepo

DONNELLSON – If Central Lee’s Lady Hawks could’ve just found their way out of the first set, they may have come out with a win Tuesday night against Mediapolis.
As it turned out, the Bulldogs escaped with a 26-24 win in that first set that saw 13 tie scores, and went on to sweep the Lady Hawks 26-24, 25-21, 25-23 in SEI Superconference volleyball action in Donnellson.
A Taylor Jones' block in the middle tied things up at 20-20 in the first set setting up a string of four straight tie scores before Mediapolis could string two points together at 25-24 and 26-24 to get the win.
Jones gave Central Lee a 22-21 lead off a nice short set from Kenna Sandoval at the middle front that Jones pounded to the middle floor for a point. Mediapolis would score the next three points on Hawk errors to get an advantage and pull away for the win.
The Hawks had two-point leads throughout the early going of the second set as Sandoval and Jones took turns pushing and pounding the Bulldogs. But a kill from Mediapolis’ Josie Hutcheson at 6-7 tied things up.
Central Lee would push the lead to three at 12-9 on a block from senior Kylie Fortune, but Mediapolis would battle back to tie things at 13, prompting a timeout by the Bulldogs to capitalize on the momentum.
The Hawks would turn the tides for a moment out of the timeout on a big block at the middle by Jones. Then the two squads would battle back and forth through four ties ending at 18-all.
The Hawks got a little sloppy at the back end of the second set with pushes that were going long and wide letting Mediapolis get up 24-20. Then Fortune recorded a kill that bounced off three Bulldogs before finding the floor to cut the lead to three at 24-21, but a missed serve by Lake ended the threat.
The third set was controlled by Mediapolis with the front row rotating attacks between Ellah Wagenback, Hutcheson, and Bryn Wright giving the Bulldogs leads of up to six points. But Central Lee rallied at 22-16 to cut the lead to 22-19 with Fortune getting a kill and following with a block for a couple points. Jones would then slap an attack to the floor to cut the lead to three.
Mediapolis would push the lead back to four at 24-20 before a Jones' kill gave a side out and Sandoval rattled off three straight service points with Jones getting two kills and a block in the run to cut the lead to one at 24-23. A kill on the next serve was ruled an error when the Hawks got into the net to end the match at 25-23.
Central Lee Head Coach Amy Cook said she wanted the girls to reflect on the play and the loss and took some extra time after the match to hit that message with the girls.
“Mepo is good. I know we were in there quite a while, but I think it’s important, no matter a win or loss that you are reflecting on it, and what can be better regardless if you win or lose? What can you improve on,” she said.
“We had too many missed serves and too many plays where we were not in it. When we hit hard, we hit hard and they can’t defend it.”
She said Jones had a good game. Jones had multiple attacks from the back row and and Cook said she practices that and has the green light in those situations.
She said the girls have to come to practice the way they want to play.
“With busy weekends you still have to show up to practice and play the way you want to play in the game. That switch needs to change,” Cook said.
Jones led the Hawks with 16 kills on 35 attempts with just three errors. Sandoval had 21 assists and Lake had 14.
Central lee was just 51-62 serving with seven aces. The inconsistent serving wasn’t lost on Cook after the match. Jayden Mueller had 30 digs.
The Lady Hawks (7-4) take on New London (1-5) on the road Thursday night in another SEI Superconference South division matchup.