The Hillgrove Hawks Girls Volleyball made the trip east to the Pope Greyhound gymnasium for an exciting matchup in inter-district play.
The Hawks started strong, winning the first set 25-21. While Pope held their own, they seemed to be on their heels the entire set. It was mostly back and forth but Hillgrove started to pull away as the set wound down. Indicating what was to come however, Pope put up a fight late in the set, even though it was too little too late.
The second set was a different story for the Greyhounds. They came out of the break ready to play and put up a 5-0 lead on the Hawks. A strategic timeout call by coach Claire Self reset the Hawks and helped them to regain their focus. Although the Greyhounds would ultimately win the second set, the Hawks put up a respectable fight. Great spikes and blocks by Lily Harvey and Ayanna Rodgers kept the Greyhounds in the game when it looked like the Hawks were ready to take the momentum. With a serve that sailed wide on set-point, the Greyhounds tied the match up, requiring a third set.
The third set began with a trading of points, with a back and forth leading to a 6-6 stalemate. Pope had finally had enough, and looked for an opportunity to win the match. They found it in the right front corner of the Hawk defense, and sunk several returns (and points) into this soft corner on the Hawk side of the net. Several spirit-breaking serves by Kelli Kaiser gave Pope the momentum it needed to seal the set and the match with 15-9 win.






