The Henning Hornets stands in the way between an expired 2022 season on the volleyball court and a trip to the Class 1A state tournament for our B-B-E Jaguars. If you didn't hear already, tonight's huge, huge volleyball showdown starts at 7 p.m. at Fergus Falls high school. We need 1,500+ fans there tonight! I hope you've been working diligently in the past two days to fill car pools! I heard that one volleyball mom has three vehicles full of fans ready to make the trip up I-94! I am almost complete getting a Chevy Impala and a Chevy Suburban filled with fans.
If you don't have the good fortune of attending the match and cheering your heart out in person, you can click over to (or tune in on the radio) to Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood. Brady will have the call with pre-match coverage starting at 6:45 p.m.; here's the link to find them on your computer or device: https://www.kmgk1071.com.
The Hornets are an outstanding volleyball team. On paper, they are slight favorites, but our Jaguars are aware of that and fully up to this! They welcome the challenge and will put everything they've got out on the court to come out on top. This one could go five sets. I'm just sensing that right now. Henning has a lights-out defense, a dynamic setter and a set of incredible hitters. They are the real deal. The November 2 issue of the Citizens Dispatch newspaper of Henning said about their playoff-opening win over Rothsay, "The Hornets controlled the tempo from start to finish. Rothsay did a nice job getting some blocks up and also getting some good digs, but the Hornets passed well and were able to move the ball along the net, which was too much for the Tigers in the end."
Against Rothsay in the Sub-Section 6A-South quarterfinals, Henning served at a red hot clip of 98 percent with 7 aces. Wow. They tallied 39 kills with 20 percent hitting with serve-receive at 93 percent. Henning played every player on the bench that night.
The Citizens Dispatch article on the subsection semifinals against a 20-win New York Mills team said, "The game against NYM was intense. The Eagles are a scrappy team that can keep the ball alive. They have a couple strong attackers and can give out-of-system balls anytime."
"The Hornets started on fire, but the Eagles settled down and managed to come back and tie the score at 20-20. The lead changed hands, but a kill down the line by Henning's Natalie Eckhoff ended the first set."
"In the second set, the Hornets controlled the tempo. Henning was able to get kills and had some big blocks."
"The third set was a back-and-forth game, but the Hornets stayed focused and kept attacking from all along the net, which enabled the Eagles to get blocks they needed. Alivia Gunderson did an amazing job, as she had to sub in for Myiesha Anotoni, who had an ankle sprain."
Head coach Kristy Finck said, "The energy in our gym was huge, which made for a fun night."
As a team in the Sub-Section 6A-South semifinals, Henning served 95 percent with 6 aces. Ally Hart, Aaliyah Olson and Gretchen Eckhoff all served 100 percent. Eckhoff led the team with 2 aces.
The Hornets tallied 45 kills with 15 percent hitting. Hart was the kill leader with 15 ace attacks, while Becca Frederick had 12 kills. Lyvia Misegades had 9 kills, Natalie Eckhoff 4 kills, Gretchen Eckhoff 3 kills and Gunderson 2 kills.
(The article reads that three players each had 21 or more digs, which just does not sound plausible in a 3-set match.)
Henning's serve-receive was 90 percent to target, which helped Misegades spread the ball to their hitters. She led the team with 33 set assists, and Gretchen Eckhoff had 7 set assists. The Hornets run primarily a 5-1 offense, but they have two rotations where they employ the 6-2 (dual setter) offensive format.
*Here's the moment that Henning took down defending Section 6A champion Breckenridge on Thursday night at Fergus Falls:
They will be a truly formidable opponent. As I said in the video, Henning avenged last year's 3-2 loss in the Sub-Section 6A-North finals with a 3-0 sweep two nights ago over the Breckenridge Cowgirls (23-6). Game scores were 25-19, 25-22, 25-21. (I was incorrect in the scores I stated in the video.) Earlier this season, Henning also won by a 3-0 score on September 1 at Breckenridge high school. Game scores in that September 1 match were 25-17, 25-20, 25-20.
**Here's a lengthy video from game three of B-B-E's match on Thursday:
During the regular season, Henning won the Browerville tournament on September 10. At the stacked Burnsville tournament on September 24, the Hornets finished 2-3 with extra-set (two-to-one) wins over Canby and Legacy Christian. They lost in straight sets that day to Bethlehem Academy, Mabel-Canton and Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda. I noticed that HL-O/F lost 3-2 in their playoff opener to Adrian/Ellsworth to finish 19-10 overall. Adrian/Ellsworth was then swept by Tracy-Milroy-Balaton in the next round, and T-M-B was then swept by Russel-Tyler-Ruthton in the Sub-Section 3A-South championship on Thursday night at the SMSU R/A Center. R-T-R (29-3) takes on Minneota tonight for the right to go to the state tournament while trying to avenge a 3-2 loss they took at R-T-R high school in Tyler on October 11. Earlier this season at the Southwest Challenge in Marshall, our Jaguars lost 2-1 to R-T-R in the final match of the day on September 10. Game scores were 25-19, 21-25, 5-15 as the Jaguars ran out of steam in that grueling third set. B-B-E opened that day in Marshall with a 2-1 win over Sioux Falls Roosevelt.
*This blog post is a wrap. Updates in a new blog post!!!!
