The Hayfield Vikings showed what volleyball tradition is all about Thursday night at Austin High School.

Friday, September 03, 1999

The Hayfield Vikings showed what volleyball tradition is all about Thursday night at Austin High School.

The Vikings had fans galore in the gym including most of the football team in its jerseys, and a squad of cheerleaders. They had reason to cheer as they beat the Packers in four games 15-10, 15-12, 3-15, 15-2.

The Vikings, under coach Deb Harvey’s tutelage, have had six-straight years of 20 plus win seasons and the volleyball display they showed Thursday night makes one believe they will easily put a seventh one under their belts.

The Packers, meanwhile, entered this season for the second-straight year with a new coach at the helm. They showed numerous signs that new coach Andrea Becker is pointing them in the right direction to be highly competitive this year and have a chance to build a successful program like Hayfield’s in the future.

"We were really pumped up at the start being it was our first match of the season," coach Becker said.

So pumped that the Packers broke out quickly to a 3-0 lead at the start of the match. Brooke Gentzler powered home two ace serves and the Packers picked up point three on a kill from Andrea Lindgren.

The tide then turned with Hayfield scoring the next seven points, slowly, through a rotation. Austin then broke back for two points on Lindgren’s serve to make it 7-5, but Hayfield then scored six of the next eight points to make it 13-7. Austin closed the gap again to within 13-10 with three-straight points on two kills by Gentzler (12-23 on attacks) and an ace block from Lauren Feller. Hayfield, however, then closed out the game with Sheri Swanson (seven kills and seven blocks) coming through with a kill and then Jana Wohlers hitting a serve that the Packers couldn’t handle cleanly.

"We made some mental mistakes because we were so pumped," Becker said. "We need to learn to control our adrenaline. We also made some serving errors that might of cost us game one."

Game two was a nip and tuck battle with neither team able to take control until Hayfield reeled off four straight points on Nikki Kindschy’s serve to put them ahead 11-6. The Austin deficit was still five when Hayfield made it to game point. Austin rallied for three points but then an ace serve by Kristin Peterson closed out this game. Peterson had a big night at the left hitter position with 15 kills and seven digs.

Austin then showed everything they had in quickly running through game three scoring the last 12 points of the contest, seven straight on Feller’s serve. Jenny Krebsbach also served well in the game with two aces. Erin Coleman (seven kills on the night) made three big kills in the run. And Brooke Gentzler’s intimidating presence at the net was felt at the end as the Packers scored the last point when Hayfield knocked the ball into the net.

"She (Gentzler) challenged me a lot," Swanson said. "It is fun to block a player like her and try to attack her. Our setters did a nice job tonight with a pretty slippery ball. We are looking for another 20 win season this year and things are looking pretty good. Nikki (Kindschy) has been a nice surprise as the other middle hitter, and Kristin Peterson is a powerhouse attacker."

There then was quite a turn around as Hayfield just as quickly won game four. They broke out to a 6-0 lead. Austin looked like they could still rally when they scored two straight points, one a Kelly Grimley ace serve, but the officials then noticed that the Packers were out of rotation and took away those two points.

"That really takes the wind out of your sails," Harvey said, "when you are down already."

Hayfield scored two more points before Austin again could post a point. Austin scored once more to make it 8-2 before Hayfield behind Bri Simon’s serving scored seven straight to put the match away.

Austin next competes in the Rochester Invitational at Rochester Century tomorrow. Hayfield (2-0, 0-0) meanwhile opens up the Hiawatha Valley League season hosting Lake City on Tuesday.