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Dominant early, Lynx collapse in five-set loss

HAMPTON – Doing 75 miles per hour on a wide-open stretch of interstate without a care in the world, that was the Webster City volleyball team in the opening two sets here Tuesday night.

What happened from there? That’s the mystery.

One thing was evident, however – the wheels fell off. Quickly and devastatingly.

After being outscored by a combined 27 points in the first and second sets, Hampton-Dumont found its mojo in the third set and, point by point, sapped Webster City of whatever confidence it had left en route to an improbable five-set victory, 9-25, 14-25, 27-25, 25-18, 15-4.

Hampton-Dumont reeled off 11 consecutive points spanning the fourth and fifth sets, and closed out the North Central Conference match on an 18-4 spurt.

WCHS head coach Jess Howard used both of her timeouts in the initial five points of the fifth set, but the Bulldogs still built an 8-0 advantage before the Lynx got off the goose egg.

That type of overwhelming play by Hampton-Dumont (3-10, 1-1 NCC) seemed inconceivable after the first- and second-set routs by WCHS (6-9, 1-1 NCC) that took just 20 minutes to complete.

“That first (set) especially, we came out with dominance,” Howard said. “If we play like that consistently, then we can play with any team. But (the players) have got to get the mentality that they are winners.

“It’s the best out of five for a reason. You’ve got to be able to play three strong (sets).”

Serving prowess was key to the Lynx explosive start. They cranked out nine aces in the opening set, capped by four consecutive winners from Gianna Gourley to close it out. Taylor Schnathorst and Kenzie Garvey both smacked back-to-back aces earlier in the set.

Two more aces and a balanced attack at net paved the way to a quick second set win for the Lynx. Six players blasted at least one kill, and four players – Garvey, Schnathorst, Andi Anderson and Hannah Williams – slapped multiple kills.

Garvey finished with a team-high 13 kills on the night. Anderson pitched in 10, Gabbi Hoversten added seven, and Schnathorst and Williams both hammered five.

The serve receive woes that Hampton-Dumont experienced early were nowhere to be found when they came out for the third set, and WCHS registered just three more aces over the final three sets.

The Bulldogs also began to build a strong defensive wall at net. The block party got underway, which led to numerous attack opportunities for themselves as well as plenty of errors on the part of the Lynx.

WCHS produced a less-than-sizzling kill efficiency of .088 and piled up 30 attack errors against just 43 kills. The errors were compounded when the Lynx began to do more tipping in the fourth and fifth sets.

“They did a great job of keeping the momentum on their side in the last three (sets) and they did a great job of being scrappy and popping a lot of balls up,” Howard said. “But we’ve also got to go after it aggressively and not give them a lot of free balls and tips.”

The tail end of the third set – a marathon that included 12 ties and four lead changes – proved to be the turning point. After being knotted at 21, 23, 24 and 25, the Bulldogs seized the upper-hand for good at 26-25 on a kill by Makayla Severs.

WCHS opened the fourth set with three consecutive points and held the upper hand until the midway point. The Bulldogs jumped ahead to stay at 15-14 and finished it off with three straight points.

The Lynx managed just one kill in the fifth set, a cross court smash by Garvey. But by that time Hampton-Dumont was already in charge, 10-2.

In addition to a match-high six aces, Gourley produced 26 digs from her libero position. Garvey and Carly Jacobson both finished with 15, and Schnathorst came up with 11.

Schnathorst distributed 23 assists. Courtney Lampman chipped in 18.

WCHS will look to regroup on Saturday when it travels north to take part in the Forest City Invitational.

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