The Henning Hornets volleyball team improved their overall record to 8-2 and their Park Region Conference record to 2-0 with the two matches they played last week.  

On Tuesday, the Barnesville Trojans traveled to Henning. They are a very talented team. They serve very aggressively, play really scrappy defense and have some strong hitters that can find holes on their opponents court. 

In the start of the match, the Hornets started very slow, and could not get any sort of offensive going.  The Trojans made a run of 9 points before Henning could get a sideout. Once the Hornets sided out, they settled down and were able to get some momentum going. 

Head coach Kristy Finck said she felt by the end of the first set Henning was outplaying the Trojans, but the hole they started with was just too big and they came up short in the end, 21-25. Game two was back and forth, some long volleys and great blocking. The Trojans were able to get a run going in the end of the set and win 19-25. 

In the third set the Hornets made less errors and found some openings on Barnesville’s court. Henning fought hard and finished the set 25-23. Set four was a crazy set, it was back and forth until Barnesville got the ball back at point 12, and their libero made a 6 point run on Henning. The Hornets were able to get the ball back and score a couple points, but found themselves down 24-14, then Lily Grieger got to the service line and made a run of 6 points of her own. 

The Hornets fought hard to the very end, but couldn’t make up the 10 point difference, the game ended 20-25. 

Finck said she gives the girls a ton of credit, they fought hard and never quit. Barnesville is very talented and will do well in their 6AA tournament in the post season.  

The Hornets had two girls with double digit kills, Addison Bode had 20 and Lily Grieger added 10. Haley Hanson also had a nice night hitting with 8 kills, and she also had 5 assists blocks. Alivia Emter led the team in set assists with 40, she also had 18 digs on the night. Grieger led the team with 3 ace serves and 3 solo blocks.

On Thursday, the Hornets traveled to New York Mills to play their second PRC match. The Eagles do not have a winning season, but they are a very dangerous team to play as they have played all of their opponents very close. They are a very scrappy team, they keep the ball alive and let their opponents make the mistakes. 

In set one, it was just like that. Henning attacked hard and found a way to keep it alive. The score was back and forth until the end when the Hornets got the ball back at 23 and pushed out, finishing 25-21. Game two we settled down and just played our game. At score 20-18, Lily Grieger went to the service line and served 5 straight points to end the set. The third set saw the Hornets serving aggressively and attacking from all of their hitters, the ending score was 25-11.

The Hornets again had two girls with double digit kills, Addison Bode had 11 and Haley Hanson had 10. Lily Grieger had 8 kills, 2 ace serves and 3 assist blocks. Jocelyn Oseien and Brynn Reinbold each had 5 kills. Alivia Emter led the team in set assists with 37. Addison Bode led the team with 20 digs, Bella Olson had 16 and Hailey Fiskum added 11.

This week the Hornets will travel to Brandon to take on the Chargers. On Thursday they host the Verndale Pirates, and on Saturday they travel to Parkers Prairie to play in the Parkers Prairie Tournament.