Hartsburg-Emden brings home third place trophy in state volleyball competition

[March 11, 2019] 

The Hartem Stags rarely find themselves playing for third place in the Seventh Grade Class 1A State Tournament. But on Saturday in Lexington, the Stags met their match in the semifinals. After suffering the loss that forced the Stags into a position to play for third place, Coach Jennifer Hayes noted, "We'd rather end the season on a win."

On Saturday morning in the semifinals, the Stags lost to local rivals, West Lincoln-Broadwell in three sets, 7-25, 25-23 and 15-25.

The match featured some outstanding kills by both Hartem's Cloee O'Donoghue and WLB's Kloe Froebe. O'Donoghue would finish with 15 kills and Froebe would lead her team with 23 kills.

Hartem vs Newton

In the third place contest, Hartem defeated Newton St. Thomas 25-22 and 25-6.

O'Donoghue led the Stags with a whopping 20 kills. It's worth noting how much O'Donoghue has improved over the last season. If she continues to grow, she will be a force to be reckoned with at the high school level. For now, she is just one of the two seventh graders (Addie Beekman is the other) who led the Stags into the postseason.

Hartem Coach Jennifer Hayes was proud of her young team following the third place win over Newton St. Thomas. "We had a great day," said Hayes. "We knew that we would have all we wanted in the semifinal game and we kind of knew that that was going to be the championship game, you just happen to meet in the semifinals.

'My hat's off to West Lincoln-Broadwell. They have a fabulous team. I wouldn't say that there was anything different I could've done, which is really what you want to leave with.

'I know we came in very nervous in the first game knowing that we had a tall task ahead of us and we lost that one 25-7. So to take the young girls that I have and win the second game, I think tells a lot about their character and a lot about who they're going to be as players, and I think that's awesome. We just didn't have enough horses to win in the semifinal game, but to turn around and play as great as they did in the third place game to take hardware home is fantastic. With only having two seventh grade starters that's all you can ask for."

Congratulations, girls!

Stags stats versus WLB

Addie Beekman 12 digs, 8 kills, 7 points
Cloee O'Donoghue 15 kills, 14 digs, 2 blocks
Zoe Miller 10 assists
Emma Cordray 7 assists
Celia Cross 5 assists
Avery Rohlfs 6 points

Stags stats versus Newton St. Thomas

Cloee O'Donoghue 20 kills
Addie Beekman 8 points, 5 digs
Sadie Williams 12 points
Zoe Miller 12 assists

[Teena Lowery
Sports Reporter/Feature Writer
Lincoln Daily News
217.454.6419 [e-mail]]