Hawkettes Get By OM In Tight Match

TAKE DECIDING FIFTH GAME BY TWO POINTS

East Greene evened its Rolling Hills volleyball record at 1-1 with a squeaker over Orient-Macksburg on Thursday, Sept. 1, in Orient, 16-25, 25-23, 25-23, 7-25, 17-15.

It was a solid comeback for the Hawkettes after losing the first game but winning the next two, only to lose the momentum in a 25-7 drubbing in a fourth game that would have clinched the match. In matches that go to the fifth—and deciding—game in a best-of-five match, the scoring is only to 15 but the winning team must win by two points.

The Hawkettes were tested to the limit as OM forced them to “extra digits” but EG prevailed, getting the last two points of game five for the 17-15 win.

EG opened the conference season with a loss to Walnut 25-18, 25-22, 25-21 on Tuesday, Aug. 30, in Rippey. The previous week, EG fell to Southeast Webster on Tuesday and then went 2-2 in the Coon Rapids-Bayard Invitational on Saturday, beating Ankeny Christian and Paton-Churdan but losing to Adair-Casey and Coon Rapids-Bayard, both ranked teams. CRB beat Adair-Casey in the championship game to win the tournament.

EG, now 3-4 on the season, hosts Paton-Churdan tonight in Rippey in a conference match.

ROLING HILLS CONFERENCE
Adair-Casey 2-0
Iowa Christian 2-0
Walnut 2-0
East Greene 1-1
CAM 1-1
Glidden-Ralston 1-1
Exira/EHK 1-1
Ankeny Christian 0-2
Orient-Macksburg 0-2
Paton-Churdan 0-2

Thurs., Sept. 1:
East Greene 16-25-25-7-17, Orient-Macksburg 25-23-23-25-15
Exira-EHK 25-24-25-25, Paton-Churdan 22-26-23-22
Iowa Christian Academy 25-20-25-25, Glidden-Ralston 20-25-18-21
Adair-Casey 25-22-25-25, Ankeny Christian Academy 6-25-8-13
Walnut 20-25-25-26, CAM, Anita 25-18-17-24

Tues., Aug. 30:
Adair-Casey 25-25-24-25, Exira-EHK 17-20-26-18
CAM, Anita 25-25-25, Ankeny Christian Academy 17-14-18
Glidden-Ralston 20-25-25-25-16, Orient-Macksburg 25-14-16-27-14
Iowa Christian Academy 25-25-25, Paton-Churdan 11-16-13
Walnut 25-25-25, East Greene 18-22-21

EYE ON GJ SAYS: EG is playing among some of the best teams in Class 1A as two conference foes—Iowa Christian and Adair-Casey—are both ranked along with two non-conference teams in west central Iowa—Coon Rapids-Bayard and Ar-We-Va.

Through Thursday, Sept. 1, Ar-We-Va (3-0) is ranked sixth; Adair-Casey (5-1) is eighth; CRB (8-2), ninth; and Iowa Christian (3-1), 13th. AC and ICA are the pre-season favorites in the Rolling Hills with ICA winning the regular conference crown with a perfect 9-0 mark, just ahead of AC at 8-1, but AC came back to beat ICA in the conference tournament championship final. Walnut however is also off to a good start with wins over East Greene and CAM (Anita) putting the Warriors in a tie for first with AC and ICA at 2-0.

ICA, AC, Ar-We-Va and CRB are the only ranked teams in central and west central Iowa in Classes 1A, 2A and 3A with the exception of Bondurant-Farrar in Polk County, which moved in the 3A rankings last week in 13th place. BF was a member of the Heart of Iowa Conference as in Jefferson-Scranton but moved this season to the all 3A Raccoon River Valley Conference. Other teams in the 10-team league are ADM (Adel), Ballard (Huxley), Boone, Carlisle, Carroll, Dallas Center-Grimes, Perry, Saydel and Winterset.