HOPE — A brief hiccup at the start of the second set Thursday night wasn’t enough to derail Class A No. 2 Hauser’s beginning to its quest to get to the Volleyball State Finals.
The Jets overcame an early deficit in the second set and cruised in the other two for a 25-11, 25-18, 25-8 win against Waldron in the opening round of the sectional.
“I think we had great serve-receive, great hits, great sets,” said senior Sarah Tedder, who led Hauser with nine kills. “In that second (set), we kind of a lost a little bit, but we kept the intensity and kept everything going and pulled through.”
The Jets (30-4) move on to face Oldenburg Academy, a five-set winner against Southwestern (Shelby) in Thursday’s opener, in Saturday’s second semifinal at around 12:30 p.m. South Decatur will play Rising Sun at 11 a.m., and the championship will be at 7 p.m.
Hauser rolled in the first set Thursday, but fell behind 9-5 in the second set. After a sideout, Tedder served seven consecutive points to give the Jets the lead for good.
“That second set, I think we got a little too excited,” Hauser coach Jeff Case said. “You want to have high energy, but you also have to stay focused to make things work, and I think we lost our focus a little bit.”
In the third set, Hauser started by getting a sideout. Sydney Schoen then served 12 straight points to give the Jets a 12-0 lead.
After that, Case got his entire bench into the game.
“We were practicing really intense this week, so I feel like that helped us out there tonight just staying focused and doing our jobs and doing the best that we can do,” said Schoen, who served seven aces.
Alana Owen recorded 22 assists, Madie Sherman had two blocks and Melanie Taylor notched eight digs for Hauser.
Also for the Jets, Sherman pounded six kills, Schoen added five kills and Megan Swinford tallied seven digs. Tedder and Schoen each had five digs.
“We picked up our energy and came together as a team,” Sherman said. “We’re doing everything as a team, and we’ve picked up on our passing a lot since the beginning of the season and our blocks and hitting are really good.”
