Henning to wrap up regular season on Tuesday in Pillager

Photo by Chad Koenen
Alivia Emter dives for a tipped ball in front of the Henning student section that featured, of all things, Cartman from South Park and a large cow during a dress up night at Henning School. On Tuesday night Emter finished with 12 kills and a team-high 13 digs in a 3-0 win over New York Mills.

With their three wins last week the Henning Hornets volleyball team improved their overall record to 15-9 and their Park Region Conference record to 5-1. On Monday night the Hornets defeated Brandon-Evansville 3-0 (25-20, 25-9, 25-16), on Tuesday they defeated New York Mills 3-0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-10) and Thursday night they defeated the Sebeka Trojans 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-22). 

As Bella Olson looks on, Henning senior Lillian Moench dives for a ball during last week’s game against Sebeka.

In Monday night’s game against the Chargers the Hornets started slow, but as the night progressed they started playing more aggressively. If the Hornets pass the ball to their setters, they can attack, and when they attack the Hornets are very hard to beat. As a team Henning had 38 kills, hitting at .309, served 95 percent with 11 aces. Henning’s serve receive was 90 percent to the target, which helped the team get their offense going. 

Myiesha Antoni led the team with 11 kills and 4 blocks, Bella Olson led the team with 13 digs and 4 ace serves, and Cambrie Johnson led the team with 18 set assists. 

Abbi Godding reaches for a tipped ball during last week’s game against New York Mills at home. On Thursday the sophomore finished with 17 assists in a 3-0 win over Sebeka.

In Henning’s game against New York Mills the Hornets started a little slow, but once they went through their full rotation, the Hornets settled in and took control of the game. Henning’s passing was solid in the second and third set, so they were able to attack. The Hornets had the most kills as a team (43, hitting at .307) in three sets this season. The one thing head coach Kristy Finck thinks they could have improved in this game was serving. She said the Hornets had too many misses and only three aces. Addison Bode led the team in kills with 13 and Alivia Emter had 12. Emter also led the team in digs with 13, Olson led the team with 2 ace serves and Johnson led the team with 17 set assists.

Thursday night’s game against Sebeka was a really important game, as it put Henning in second place in the PRC. Wadena-Deer Creek is the only team that is undefeated and the Hornets are the only team with one loss. There is still hope that Henning could have a share for the PRC Title this week depending on WDC’s game vs New York Mills and the Hornets game against Pillager. 

Finck said the Hornets knew Sebeka would be very scrappy and never stop trying to find ways to beat Henning. It was a back and forth match from the beginning. In set one the Hornets were down almost the entire match until the score was 17-21 and Henning made a nice run with Alivia Emter at the serving line. Emter served aggressively, which made the Trojans give the Hornets easier balls and Henning was able to attack and score. Finck said it was great to see the girls fight the last eight points of the game. 

In the second and third set Finck said she felt the team controlled the sets, but they would let the Trojans back in the end. The girls dug deep and were able to finish in three sets. The Hornets topped their total kills in a three set match with 49 (hitting at .204), they served 97 percent with four aces. Serve receive was good with 89 percent to the target and they were able to get 12 blocks on the night.

The Hornets had three girls with double digit kills, Bode had 11, Emter and Antoni each had 10. Emmalyn Bergstrom followed with 9 and Brynn Reinbold had 7. Emter led the team in digs with 21 and ace serves with 2. Cambrie Johnson led the team with 24 assists and Abbi Godding had 17. Antoni led the team with 5 blocks and Brynn Reinbold and Lily Greiger each had 4. 

Finck said it was a good week of volleyball as each of Henning’s senior players, Antoni, Johnson, Bergstrom, Lillian Moench, Breanna Bunkowski, Jenna Domier, Macy Oseisen and Isabelle Godding were able to see court time each night. The Hornets have two regular season games left, Monday is home against one of the top ranked teams in Section 6A in Parkers Prairie and Tuesday they travel to Pillager. The Hornets will start playoffs next week.