Hornets defeat Greenwood, Whitehall

The Colby Hornets went 2-4 last week after defeating Cloverbelt conference foe Greenwood and then going 1-4 in a tournament hosted by Abbotsford on Saturday.

Abbotsford Tournament

The Hornets had several close matches on Saturday in Abbotsford, but found themselves on the wrong side of the box score in most of them. They went 1-4 over the course of the tournament, but had opportunities to win in three of those matches.

Colby went to three sets in four of their five games. Theironlytwosetmatchof thedaywasagainstPrescott, who the Hornets faced in pool play and lost by the same score in straight sets, 15-25. They also played the Rosholt Hornets and Loyal Greyhounds in pool play, both of which produced competitive matches. After dropping the first game 23-25 against Rosholt, Colby battled back to take the second set 25-19, but lost the tiebreaker 13-15. They’d lose the final set against Loyal by the same score and their rematch in a battle of the Hornets ended by a score of 13-15 as well.

One game three did go Colby’s way, however, and they defeated the Whitehall Norse 2-1 with scores of 25-10, 1925 and 15-11.

Greenwood, 3-0

Colby took on Greenwood last Thursday and defeated the Indians in straight sets, 25-17, 25-15 and 25-17.

The first set saw a steady back and forth through the early going, but Colby got an ace and two opposite side kills to fuel a five-point run in the middle of the game, giving them a 18-13 lead. They’d hold that lead for the rest of the set and Savana Thomsen would finish it for the Hornets, sending back a free ball that got away from Greenwood’s receive.

With the game tied at 6-6 in the second set, Colby forced a side out and turned the ball over to Harrison Schmitt at the service line. The sophomore connected with four consecutive serves that the Indians could not handle, drawing the lead out to 11-6. Following her serve and two sideouts, the Hornets went on an impressive ten point run to go up 22-7. The Indians battled back, but the lead Colby had built was too great and the Hornets took the second set as well.

The home team built an early lead in game number three, but Greenwood was not going to go away without a fight. They brought the game back within a point multiple times, but could not quite close the gap. The Hornets overwhelmed their opponent late in the game and senior Jorja Weiland put the match away, winning a joust at the net and giving her team the victory.

Lydia Decker led the team with nine kills, followed by Kennedy Bilz, Kylie Orth, and Thomsen, each of which had six.

Schmitt had five aces over the course of the three sets and Dory Hanson-Mengel had four herself.

Hillary Feiten led the team’s defensive efforts, recording 14 digs. Hanson-Mengel added 10 and Bilz had eight.

The Hornets travel to Owen-Withee Thursday night. The Blackhawks have three wins on the season and are 1-2 in Cloverbelt conference play. The match is set to start at 7:15 p.m.