ALLEMAN – Playing for second place in the Heart of Iowa Conference hierarchy might be just a consolation prize, but you never would have known that looking into the watery eyes of Ady Wintermote as she accepted words of encouragement from her mom following Tuesday’s match.

Equal parts disappointed and frustrated, the South Hamilton junior attempted to put her finger on where it all went wrong.

“I usually don’t cry … there were opportunities that we didn’t take,” Wintermote said following a 3-1 loss to North Polk. “Me myself, I know that I didn’t take as many opportunities as I should have. We struggled and I think we’re all disappointed.”

North Polk (20-8, 4-1 HOIC) took sole possession of second behind league leader and third-ranked (Class 3A) Nevada by utilizing an aggressive serve in the 25-17, 13-25, 25-17, 25-15 victory. Having a hammer in Hannah Becker didn’t hurt either. She finished with a match-high 20 kills.

But it was also what South Hamilton (13-6, 4-2 HOIC) didn’t do that led to its demise. An off night receiving serve put a strain on the setting abilities of Alissa Moss, who went the distance as the Hawks went with a 5-1 set.

Moss finished with 34 assists, but she had to work quite a bit harder than she should have for them. She was forced to put the ball up from the back row and from outside the lines routinely.

“Our setter had to go more than out of the normal routine to try to get the set to the quick offense,” South Hamilton head coach Rusty Wintermote said. “We just didn’t get it anywhere near where Alissa Moss could take advantage of it.

“To me, from a bystander on the sideline, it was we didn’t do what we know how to do. But it’s just one match and we’ll move on.”

Ady Wintermote and Alyssa Hegland blasted 16 kills each. Lily Skartvedt and Taylor Ratzke both chipped in two. South Hamilton hit a respectable .206, but the opportunities it missed were just as key as the errors it made.

After tying the bout with a dominant second set, the Hawks were unable to build on the momentum and allowed North Polk to seize control. A barrage of tips by the visitors, particularly late, aided the Comets in their 10-2 closing run, and they went on to dominate the fourth and final set.

“We got push happy, tip happy,” Rusty Wintermote said. “We came out of timeouts saying we’ve got to quit doing that, but we didn’t. I did a horrible job of making adjustments when we struggled and I didn’t do a good job of giving other kids opportunities. That’s on me.”

North Polk never trailed in the opening set and built its lead to as big as 10 points. South Hamilton’s serve receive issues were a big reason why.

The Hawks answered in the second set with a wire-to-wire lead, keyed by big efforts from their big hitters. Ady Wintermote and Alyssa Hegland both had four kills during the stanza. Ratzke became the first player other than the two leaders to notch a kill off a quick set to push the advantage to 14-6.

Back-to-back kills from Hegland, followed by the Hawks’ only ace of the match courtesy of Alissa Moss put the set out of reach. Chloe Barkema finished the Comets off with a block on the outside.

Barkema and Hegland both collected two blocks. Ady Wintermote registered a team-best four.

Libero Anna Moss dove all over the back row and tallied 21 digs. Ady Wintermote chipped in nine.

North Polk’s Alexandria Dvorak also reached double digits in kills with 10.

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for South Hamilton. Saturday’s Hampton-Dumont Invitational will feature a slew of ranked teams and the Hawks know they will need to rebound if they want to compete.

“We definitely don’t have easy matches coming up,” Ady Wintermote said. “We’re going to take how the second (set) felt and how we did what we needed to do to be aggressive.”