YANKTON, SD. – The Hastings College volleyball team has a big week in front of it needing two wins to keep its postseason hopes within grasp. The Lady Broncos needed an exciting five set matchup but found a way to defeat Mount Marty 25-13, 25-17, 19-25, 21-25, 16-14 on Wednesday night.
It really came down to the final set as the first four sets were not very close with Hastings easily winning sets one and two while the Lancers came back to win sets three and four without much trouble.
So it all came down to the fifth and final set as the teams were knotted up 8-8 when MMU opened up a slim 10-8 lead behind a HC attack error followed by an Ava Wolfe kill. Hastings countered with a Lancer service error and then a kill from Ilse Benne to tie things 10-10.
The lead went back to 13-11 with a service error followed by an Adisyn Indahl kill as Hastings needed an answer. They would get one when Makenna Asher connected with Kaitlin Thiebauth for the kill to make it 13-12. Then back-to-back attack errors from the Lancers set up match point for Hastings but Asher would get blocked as this set five headed to extra points.
The Lady Broncos needed someone to step up with Benne off the floor and Majesta Valasek in the back row so Asher turned to another true freshman in Madison Glenn. But first Asher worked the ball to Thiebauth as it looked as though her kill would hit the floor but somehow MMU kept the ball up and got it back over the net. Asher then went out to Glenn as she smashed home the kill down the line to set up match point again as the bench erupted with glee.
It would be Madison Navarette sending over the serve as the Lancer attack went off the block of Asher and Grace Branson right to Glenn as Asher went to Branson as her kill nearly hit the floor setting up a furious rally. Finally, the ball settled with Sophie Stevens as she passed it off to Asher and she went outside to Glenn as she hammered the kill through the block as Hastings escaped with the thrilling five set victory over MMU 16-14.
Both teams really put on a show in set five as Hastings hitting .476 while the Lancers hit .450. Benne led the way with 20 kills while hitting .361. Valasek added 11 kills while Branson and Glenn each finished with eight. Thiebauth finished her night with seven kills.
Asher led the way with 49 assists to go along with 11 digs and two kills. Miriam Miller led the match with 28 digs while Benne finished with a career high five service aces. Hastings finished the match hitting .199 while MMU hit .180.
Hastings is now 8-12 (3-8) on the year and will be back in action Saturday Oct. 14 hitting the road to take on Morningside with first serve set for 3:00 pm in Sioux City, IA.