HOPE — Hauser went unbeaten in its pool to reach the championship game of its Hauser Heritage Days Volleyball Classic, but ran into a tough Castle team in the final.
Castle was too much for the Jets, handing them a 25-13, 25-13 defeat.
“We competed, but our ball control was a little sloppy, and (Castle) served really aggressive,” Hauser coach Jeff Case said. “The biggest thing is that they’re a really good team. They play amazing defense and it was just hard to put a ball away on them.”
In pool play, the Jets (14-8) defeated Rushville 25-14, 25-12 and then defeated Columbus North 25-16, 25-18.
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Hauser’s other opponent in the pool, Seymour only had three matches available, so the tiebreaker between the teams was the sets against each other during pool play. Since the Owls dropped a set to the Bull Dogs, the Jets won the tiebreaker, thus sending them into the championship round.
When the Bull Dogs and the Jets squared off Saturday, it was the first time in Case’s 19-year coaching tenure at Hauser that he has played North.
“The energy and effort was really good. We played with a lot of urgency,” Case said. “We were just a lot more consistent. We’ve been battling inconsistent play up and down all year, and in those two matches, they were really solid all the way through, so that’s really what I’m looking for.”
Hannah Johnson finished with 28 kills and five blocks, Andie Clark had 61 digs and two aces, Charlie Clark added 22 digs and eight kills and Adrianna Musillami finished with 15 digs, six aces and four assists for the Jets.
Also for Hauser, Aunaka Wasil tallied 49 assists, Sophia Musillami notched seven kills and three aces, Marnie Schwartzkopf had three blocks and Kenze Bostic added two blocks.
The Bull Dogs (6-16) finished in sixth place in the tournament after falling to Waldron 23-25, 25-14, 15-11 in the fifth-place match. In pool play, North defeated Rushville 25-17, 25-22, lost a close match to Seymour 25-16, 15-25, 15-12, and fell to the Jets 25-16, 25-18.
Even though it was a understandably disappointing day for North, coach Quin Shoultz took away some positives.
“We came out and played against Seymour like the team that I know we can be,” Shoultz said. “We took them to three sets and almost took that whole match away from them. I couldn’t have asked for them to play any better at that moment and in that time, and I look forward to them playing like that in the future.”
For the Bull Dogs, Sarah Bennett finished with 23 kills, three blocks and seven aces, Reagan Kane had 43 assists and Sydney Cooper had 26 digs and four aces.
Also for North, Madi Roop finished with 25 kills, Madison White had two blocks and Grace Chapman notched 24 digs.
Shoultz knows that her team also has much to work on if it wants to be competitive in the sectional in a couple weeks.
“One of the biggest things is having each other’s back as a team,” Shoultz said, “and just really using that team unity, playing as a team, it’s everybody’s ball, that kind of thing.”
