Hayfield volleyball team opens season with sweep over Packers
Published 10:49 pm Thursday, August 28, 2014

Hayfield’s Jo Bungum tips the ball against the defense of Austin’s Amber Hansen in Hayfield Thursday. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
HAYFIELD —The Hayfield volleyball team opened its season with a clean sweep as it beat Austin by scores of 25-20, 25-21, 25-7 in Hayfield Thursday.

Austin’s Marissa Hart reaches back to make a play on the ball in Hayfield Thursday. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
The Vikings (1-0 overall) cruised in the last game, but the Packers (0-2 overall) gave them plenty of competition in the first two games.
Austin’s Alex Hansen served five straight points to bring the Packers within 22-21 in the second game before Hayfield’s Savanna Cordle knocked down a key kill to make 23-21. Austin also hung around in the first game as Kelsey Sederquest served an ace to make it 21-18, but the Vikings answered as Maggie Streightiff hammered down a kill to make it 22-18.
“Austin is growing and it’s getting better. Their program is getting to be good. They’re scrappy as heck and they get all over the court,” Hayfield head coach Jeremy Struck said. “We exposed some things we need to work on before we get into the HVL. Serve receive was a big thing and we’ve got to allow our offense to set up.”
The Hayfield volleyball team has a big turnover in its roster this season and senior hitter Jo Bungum said it took some adjusting to get used to playing without last year’s seniors.
“Those seniors last year really helped us out, but this year we’ve really worked hard over the summer and we’ve come closer and been able to gel as a team better,” Bungum said. “We had the jitters for the first game and this was the first varsity match ever for a few girls. Carrie Rutledge, she’s a great outside hitter. She just needs to work on it and get her confidence up.”

Hayfield’s Madison Booms sets against the Austin volleyball team in Hayfield Thursday. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com
The Packers showed a lot of hustle throughout the first two games and the Vikings had to earn just about every point they scored. Austin head coach Cindy Owen feels her team is headed in the right direction.
“The first two games were very encouraging. The kids were doing some things that we’ve really worked hard on in terms of blocking,” Owen said. “We’ve also worked on staying low in the back row and not giving up on the ball until the whistle’s blown. The kids did that in the first two games. One big dig or one big hit can change the whole momentum of the game. Volleyball is all momentum and one thing that somebody does can change the whole game.”
Hayfield stats: Maggie Streightiff, 6 kills, 11 set assists, 2 blocks; Katelyn Bjornson, 5 kills, 2 blocks; Savanna Cordle, 6 kills, 2 blocks; Jo Bungum, 3 kills, 6 digs; Kaila Meyer, 9 set assists, 2 aces; Bhrett Zahnle, 11 digs; Carrie Rutledge, 6 digs
Austin stats: Kelsey Sederquest, 6 points serving, 12 digs, 24 serve receives; Shayley Vesel, 5 points serving, 3 set assists, 6 digs, 4 kills; Alex Hansen, 7 points serving, 8 digs, 3 kills; Amber Hansen, 3 points serving, 2 kills, 2 ace blocks; Marissa Hart, 6 set assists; Jordan Huntley, 2 kills; Abbi Collins, 2 kills

Austin’s Abbi Collins makes a dig against Hayfield Thursday. — Rocky Hulne/sports@austindailyherald.com