Lady Hawks take inaugural Hwy. 218 trophy

COMING AROUND

We’re finally gelling. They believe that it’s just a process and they have to trust each other,” Cook said. “We’ve struggled a bit, but their finally realizing what we can control. We don’t want to break our circle.””

Amy Cook, Central Lee Head Coach

KEOKUK – A volleyball match broke out between a couple of battling student sections at Wright Field House Friday night.
And at the end of it all, the Central Lee Lady Hawks walked away with the inaugural Hwy. 218 trophy after knocking off a pesky Keokuk squad in four sets 25-17, 25-20, 23-25, 25-18.
The Keokuk student section was about 80 strong and vocal, while Central Lee brought a nice contingency that seemed to have trouble with the bleachers as they fell down on every Lady Hawk kill.
Central Lee showed some mid-season perseverance making rallies in the last three sets after cruising in set one.
“We’ve been just really working on controlling our circle, working together – and I feel it’s finally coming together. We’ve got a long way to go, but it’s finally coming together,” said Head Coach Amy Cook.
“Our passing was better today so we were able to get to a quicker offense. I feel like that helps quite a bit, too.”
The Hawks kept the Chiefs at bay in the first set never letting them get closer than four points after pulling ahead when Nora Lampe had four straight service points, including an ace, and Brylee Cook had a kill from the left outside spot. Cook had 13 kills on the night, including several in key points that caught the Chiefs left line across the front of the net.
Keokuk then took the momentum in the second set, opening a 12-5 lead when Central Lee sent an attack wide and then long to trail by seven. But sophomore Kaylee Moeller found a kill in the middle and Cook followed on the next point to cut the gap to five.
Sophomore Madison Frueh, who had nine kills and 15 assists on the night, got hot at the service line and brought the Hawks back to within in  doesn't make sense 12-13 going 6 of 7 serving propped up by a kill from Lampe from the right outside post and big block from Moeller to tie things up at 12 and give the Hawks some energy.
Central Lee would take its first lead 17-16 on an ace by Cook. She followed with another on two stout serves to the center back of the Chief defense. Then the Hawks would go on an 8-4 run. Moeller then went to work with three straight kills off nice sets in the middle to wrap up the second set 25-20.
Keokuk took the upper hand in the 3rd set through the first half, but the Hawks again would come back to tie things up after an Amy Cook time out. The Hawks trailed 11-16 before the time out. They reset and moved the offense to Brylee Cook on the left outside and rallied for a 6-2 run to take an 18-17 lead on a Keokuk attack error.
The two would battle back and forth through a 23-22 Hawk lead, but the Chiefs would find a way down the stretch helped by a couple Hawk hitting errors. Londyn Mueller would land an ace off the back defense to get the set win 23-25.
In the fourth set, the Chiefs didn’t get an offensive point until 5-7 when Nevaeh Logan registered a kill from the middle of the offense. The six other Chiefs' points were on Hawk errors. Cook and Frueh both had two kills to keep the Hawks close. Cook would score again on a push from the right side for a 12-10 lead. Keokuk would make one last charge to tie things up at 14 with a sharp kill to the middle of the Hawk defense by senior Carrigan Morris, but Central Lee would run away from that point and finished on a strong attack from Frueh at 24-18 after a frenzied rally, and then Lampe finished things off with an attack that rolled down the net and fell harmlessly on the Chiefs' side.
Cook had 25 assists and 14 digs in the match to go along with five aces and a couple blocks. Frueh had nine kills and 15 assists, while Lampe had eight kills and Moeller finished with seven. She also had five blocks at the front center of the Hawk defense.
“Brylee did a great job on the outside, but really she had a lot of digs,” Cook said.
Cook said the girls need to be a little better in rotating help, but she said, overall, the young team is improving. Central Lee has four seniors in Macie Doty,  Julia Fraise, Ava Washburn, and Lampe but the rest of the power comes from a solid group of sophomores including Cook, Maggie Mullins, who had four blocks and six kills Thursday night, and Frueh, and others that bode well for the future.
“We’re finally gelling. They believe that it’s just a process and they have to trust each other,” Cook said. “We’ve struggled a bit, but they're finally realizing what we can control. We don’t want to break our circle.”