HOPE — Midway through the opening set of Monday night’s volleyball contest, Class A No. 3 Hauser had only a 12-11 lead against Waldron.
From there, the Jets took off. They pulled away in that set, then rolled in the final two to claim a 25-14, 25-4, 25-7 victory and finish unbeaten in the Mid-Hoosier Conference.
“We had maybe a little lack of mental focus,” Hauser coach Jeff Case said. “We were doing a lot of good things, but we also were making a lot of unforced errors.”
After the Mohawks pulled within 12-11 in that first set, the Jets (27-3, 6-0) got a sideout and then five consecutive service points from Sarah Tedder to make it 18-11. After two Waldron points and a Hauser sideout, Alana Owen served five straight to open a 24-13 margin.
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The Mohawks scored the first point of the second set. But then after a Jets sideout, Sydney Schoen served 15 consecutive points, with eight of them coming on aces.
“We didn’t come out as strong as we had hoped, but during the second set, we all had a ton of energy, and we wanted to go out there and play the best we could,” Schoen said. “It was definitely a team effort. We all had to work together and just fight and have fun.”
Owen served four more aces during a run that saw Hauser extend its lead from 17-3 to 24-3 in that second set.
In the third set, Waldron was within 13-7 before the Jets got a sideout and Taylor Henderson served the final 11 points of the match, culminating in a kill by Schoen.
“We were hitting serves, and that really caused them a lot of trouble,” Case said. “Once you mix it up with short zones and deep zones, we really got them off of what they were wanting to do. We have a lot of weapons, so it’s kind of hard to keep track of them all.”
Hauser finished with 23 aces as a team, including nine from Schoen and five each from Tedder and Owen. Metz pounded 12 kills and two blocks, Owen recorded 28 assists and Madie Sherman had two blocks.
Schoen also notched five kills and three assists, while Henderson and Tannyr Davis each pounded three kills. Hailey Lange tallied one assist, Davis had a block, Tedder finished with four digs and Owen added two digs.
“We really took the energy from the end of the first game and brought it into the second game, which got us that huge lead,” Metz said. “That picked up our momentum a lot. It’s something to take into sectional and really get us pumped for that. We’re definitely hitting our peak right now.”
