The seventh ranked Henning Hornet volleyball team is off and rolling for the 2021 season. 

As of right now everything is back to “normal” as far as playing without masks, having fans in the gym, pep bands playing and playing a full schedule.  

Head coach Kristy Finck said the team hopes that continues and that the Hornets are able to finish the season without any setbacks.  The Hornets are 6-2 overall, 1-0 in the PRC and they just came home with a third place finish in the Browerville Tournament.

Before school started, the Hornets defeated Underwood 3-0 their first match of the season, and then dropped a close match against Breckenridge 2-3. 

On the first day of school, the Hornets traveled to Graceville to take on Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley. The Hornets picked up their 2nd win with a 3-0 victory.  On Thursday, the Hornets finally had a home game, as they hosted Bertha-Hewitt. The Hornets defeated the Bears 3-0 to start 1-0 in the conference. 

On Saturday, the Hornets traveled to Browerville to participate in their tournament. In pool play, the Hornets defeated Verndale 2-0, then they lost 0-2 to a very scrappy Browerville team and then they defeated KMS 2-0. This put the Hornets second in their pool, as Browerville went on to defeat Verndale and KMS. At the end of pool play in this tournament the two first place teams play for the championship, the second place teams play for third, the third place teams play for fifth and the fifth place teams play for seventh place.  

The Hornets last opponent of the day was CGB.  They went on to beat them 2-0 to claim third place.

As far as the season goes, Finck said the Hornets are playing well. When they are in control of the offense, they are very hard to beat.  In Henning’s two losses the team has struggled to pass the ball to the target, which made it difficult to attack like they should.  

“I have always preached to the girls that passing is the most important part of the game. If you can’t get the ball to the setter, it is going to make for a long night,” said Finck.

As a team, the Hornets are serving 94 percent, with 43 aces. They are hitting at .151; this lower than they want it to be, so the Hornets will be working on improving this. Henning’s serve receive is 88 percent to the target and their digging is just under 60 percent. 

Finck said one thing that will help their digging will be to improve their overall blocking. With continued hard work, the Hornets can improve their overall game and be the team to stop come playoff time.

The Hornets varsity team consists of two seniors Grace Hammer and Emma Severson, nine juniors, Ally Hart, Faith Fisher, Gretchen Eckhoff, Becca Frederick, Aaliyah Olson, Lily Fraki, Natalie Eckhoff, Gabby Umland and Ava Eckhoff and sophomore Lyvia Misegades.  

The JV and C-squad players are 10th graders: Ella Missling, Alivia Gunderson, Shannon Tierney, Alyssa Winters, ninth graders Lila Thorson and eighth graders Emmalynn Bergstrom and Cambrie Johnson.

The Hornets will host Brandon-Evansville on Tuesday and travel to Menahga on Thursday.