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Winning Not Enough

JEWELL – A celebration was called for and yet not one member of the 14th-ranked (Class 2A) South Hamilton volleyball team was in the mood Tuesday night.

A three-set sweep of Heart of Iowa Conference rival Collins-Maxwell-Baxter for a third consecutive victory was better than a loss, but the end result still wasn’t enough to overshadow what the players perceived to be a poor performance.

Simply put, for a team with state-tournament aspirations, just winning isn’t good enough.

“No, we’re not happy with the way we played because we know we can play better,” South Hamilton sophomore hitter Lily Skartvedt said after the Hawks dispatched CMB 25-20, 25-23, 25-14. “We were really low energy and just weren’t running the stuff like we can.”

Skartvedt wasn’t alone in her assessment.

“I definitely think we could have played a lot better,” Hawks’ senior star Ady Wintermote said. “We didn’t play up to our potential.”

Sluggish starts early in sets continued to be South Hamilton’s Achilles’ Heel and it forced the squad to overcome sizable deficits behind the never-relenting attack of Wintermote, who blistered 27 kills and finished with an all-state-caliber .658 kill efficiency.

CMB (9-10, 1-5 HOIC) jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the opening set and pushed its edge to 16-9 before the Hawks answered with a 16-4 run. It was more of the same in the second set, as the Raiders scored seven of the initial eight points, which forced South Hamilton head coach Rusty Wintermote to burn another early timeout.

The Hawks eventually knotted the set at 10.

“We just didn’t have any spunk or fire and we didn’t have any flow to our game until we got to midway through the third game,” Rusty Wintermote said. “It all boils down to consistency with our game.

“I think they girls are disappointed in themselves and I can feel that. They’re just not happy.”

Serve receive and passing problems put South Hamilton (17-3, 3-2 HOIC) behind the eight ball in the sets in which it was forced to rally. CMB finished with just three service aces, but too many times the initial pass forced Hawk setters Alissa Moss and Taylor Volkmann to race around the court and try to manufacture a good pass to the hitters.

“If we’re going to pass like this, we’re not going to get past the second round (of regionals),” Rusty Wintermote said.

Ady Wintermote didn’t lace her first kill of the match until the 19th point, but rattled off six in the late stages of the first set. An ace off her jump serve drew the Hawks even at 17 and they went up to stay on the next point on a tip by Alissa Moss. Skartvedt, who lashed five of her 10 kills in the stanza, went cross-court on back-to-back kills to extend the lead to 21-18, and Ady Wintermote eventually ended it with a slam from the back row.

The 27 kills propelled Ady Wintermote into a tie for sixth-place on the 2A leaderboard with 279 on the season. She’s ranked No. 1 in kills per set (5.26) and her kill efficiency of .416 is tied for third among hitters with 100 more kills.

But it’s the number 1,000 that most peaks her interest. She now sits just 55 kills short of becoming the first South Hamilton player to ever reach the milestone and she can’t deny that getting there is a goal.

“It’s a huge deal and it’s one of those things that not a lot of people get to do,” she said. “I can’t wait until the moment and I’ll probably want to cry just because of how hard I’ve worked over the years.”

Ady Wintermote took over the second set by utilizing her bevy of shots for 11 kills. Whether it was through or over the block, she managed to keep the Raiders’ defense at bay. A kill from the back row, followed by a slam down the line put the Hawks in front to stay at 23-22. Skartvedt made it set point with her only ace of the contest and, of course, Ady Wintermote finished it off with a kill.

“Once we get into a flow we usually do pretty well,” Skartvedt said.

South Hamilton went on a 14-4 run midway through the third set to silence CMB for good. Five of the team’s nine aces came in the set, including three from Anna Moss and two from MaKayla Cavan. Taylor Ratzke also smacked three of her four kills in the game.

Breanne Diersen added five kills for the Hawks, while Volkmann (19) and Alissa Moss (16) combined to distribute 35 assists.

Ady Wintemote added 12 digs to her haul. Libero Anna Moss came up with a match-high 20.

Chloe Barkema led the Hawks’ defense at net with five solo blocks.

Brianda Bane paced CMB with 10 kills and Kathleen Baldwin dished out 19 assists.

South Hamilton will be back on its home court this evening to take on Prairie City-Monroe at 6:30 p.m. Then it’s on to Saturday’s Hampton-Dumont Invite.

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