Efficient Wolverines dispatch Bulldogs

DIKE – The Dike-New Hartford volleyball team made the adjustments necessary to eventually overwhelm Hampton-Dumont-CAL for the Wolverines’ straight-set victory to open regional play in Class 3A Region 4.

D-NH, ranked fourth, won 25-18, 25-7, 25-14 and will play Forest City on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at Hampton-Dumont High School.

Morgan Weber led the Wolverines (28-14) with 16 kills on 28 attempts and freshman Madelyn Norton added 11 kills and 18 assists. Weber and Angelina Westberg brought up 15 digs each.

“It took a bit to settle in,” D-NH head coach Diane Harms said. “We started adjusting to what they did and we were relaxing and just playing instead of overthinking, we put that together and did a nice job in the second and third set.”

The Bulldogs (9-22) kept pace with D-NH in the first set, taking an early 8-7 lead on a three-point run that included a Wolverines service error, followed by a Courtney Miller ace and a tandem block for Miller and Tara Krull.

“The girls played an amazing first game on Wednesday,” Bulldog coach Kelli Showalter said. “Dike didn’t change anything up to game two or three. They have a very good server and we were unable to get a side-out. We struggled with getting kills when we needed to have them.

“We have so many times of greatness, but we just don’t finish and win the point. The girls are such a great group to be around.”

Krull led H-D-CAL with six kills on 17 attempts and added two blocks. Miller finished with 11 digs.

“I watched them play recently and knew we’d have to pick up on some of their short servers,” Harms said. “Still, we struggled in the first set with that as well as their misdirection with their attacks, even though we talked about it.”

A trio of Bulldog errors put D-NH back ahead for good in the first set at 10-8, part of a run where the Wolverines scored seven of the next nine rally points. H-D-CAL had five of its 13 kill errors in the match in the first set.

In the next two sets, Weber and the Wolverines took control. D-NH scored the first six points of the second set and eventually went on a 14-2 run to start the second stanza. In the third set, D-NH was up 11-0 before the first Bulldog point. D-NH led 21-6 before subbing in bench players to finish the game.

By match’s end, D-NH had struck 45 kills on 86 attempts with only six errors while also dropping in nine ace serves that balanced out eight service errors.

“We were hitting serves a bit more aggressively with placement in the second and third set that didn’t allow them to do as much as they would’ve liked offensively,” Harms said. “We like our serves to be a big weapon and in the second and third set, they started to be that way.”

Dike-New Hartford 25-25-25

Bulldogs 18-7-14

Kills– H-D (Tara Krull 6, Kirsten Suntken 4, Emma Aalbers 3, Briana Grover 2, Kaci Arjes, Courtney Miller, Aja Sheppard); D-NH (Morgan Weber 16, Madelyn Norton 11, Jenna Joslin 8, Margaret Nielsen 4, Jill Eilderts 3, Taylor Hoehns 2, Ryanne Shoemaker). Blocks– H-D (Krull 2, Avery Hanson); D-NH (Eilderts 2, Norton 2, Nielsen). Assists– H-D (Sheppard 11, K. Arjes 6, Grover); D-NH (Brielle Coulter 21, Norton 18). Digs– H-D (Miller 11, Aalbers 9, Maci Arjes 8, Krull 7, Addy Showalter 4, Sheppard 3, Grover 2, K. Arjes, Hanson); D-NH (Weber 15, Angelina Westberg 15, Lexie Fager 13, Norton 8, Joslin 4, Coulter 3, Jillian Beuter, Eilderts, Malea Neuroth). Serving– H-D (Sheppard 8-8, ace; M. Arjes 6-6; Krull 5-5; K. Arjes 4-4; Miller 10-11, ace; Suntken 3-4; Showalter 0-1); D-NH (Beuter 1-1; Westberg 26-27, 4 aces; Eilderts 13-14, 2 aces; Coulter 7-8; Neuroth 6-7; Norton 11-13, 2 aces; Weber 2-4, ace).