JEWELL – On a night when seniors Alyssa Hegland and Abby Elsner stepped into the spotlight, junior teammate Ady Wintermote went out and stole their thunder.

Nobody seemed to be complaining though.

Hegland and Elsner, South Hamilton’s lone seniors, were honored before the final regular season match and then stepped between the lines and helped the Hawks thump Heart of Iowa Conference rival Collins-Maxwell-Baxter, 3-0.

It was Wintermote who did most of the demolition work, as she hammered 18 kills in the 25-14, 25-18, 25-14 rout. The junior heads to the postseason with 275 kills – second-most in the HOIC – and an impressive kill efficiency of .382.

South Hamilton (17-8, 6-2 HOIC) wrapped up what will likely be a third-place finish in the conference. Fourth-ranked (Class 3A) Nevada has clinched the title, while North Polk still has a match to play with one league loss under its belt.

CMB (10-14, 2-6 HOIC) came into the match short-handed in the front row and the Hawks took advantage. Wintermote teed off early and often and never really relented. She hit .375 and made just three errors while piling up the bulk of the Hawks’ kills.

Hegland lashed four kills and Taylor Ratzke added one in the third set.

“We recognized that they have gone through some injuries with their middles and we took advantage,” South Hamilton head coach Rusty Wintermote said. “That gave us a lot of one-on-one situations and they couldn’t handle Ady. But Ady also wouldn’t have gotten those opportunities if Alissa Moss hadn’t given her nice sets and if the passing hadn’t been good from the back row.”

Moss distributed all of South Hamilton’s 23 assists.

Ady Wintermote showed CMB quickly what it was up against by scoring five of South Hamilton’s initial eight points on kills and she finished the first set with eight.

Aggressive, deep serves also benefitted the Hawks, who produced seven aces. Hegland tossed in back-to-back aces as part of an early 5-0 run that put the Hawks in charge and she finished with four in the match. Katelyn Sogard added an ace later in the opening set and Anna Moss finished the Raiders off with one of her own.

“Our serve was really strong and I thought that we had better flow than we did a week ago,” Rusty Wintermote said.

South Hamilton worked through some inconsistent play in the second set and took control for good at 10-9.

CMB started the third set strong by scoring five of the initial six points. Middle blocker Chloe Barkema breathed some life into the Hawks with a solo block and a few points later produced another snuff to tie the stanza at 5 – the beginning of the end for the Raiders.

South Hamilton piled up 22 blocks in all, led by Barkema with six. Ratzke collected five, while Ady Wintermote and Hegland both had four.

After a somewhat quiet second set, Ady Wintermote got back to work from the perimeter in the finale. She bashed kills on three consecutive points during one stretch that pushed the Hawks in front 13-6. And, fittingly enough, she showed the Raiders the exit by slamming a shot around the block on the outside.

Libero Anna Moss paced the Hawks’ back row efforts with 10 digs. Hegland checked in with five.

South Hamilton will now go on a lengthy hiatus before it hosts a Class 2A Region 5 quarterfinal against either Eagle Grove or Fort Dodge St. Edmond on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m.

Rusty Wintermote knows he’ll need to figure out a strategy to keep his club fresh prior to regional play. If South Hamilton wins its next match, it will likely set up a date with sixth-ranked and four-time defending state champion Dike-New Hartford.

“You need continual rhythm, especially when you play some young kids,” Rusty Wintermote said. “We’re going up to scrimmage Webster City next Thursday and that will give us something in the middle.”