The Hitchcock-Tulare Lady Patriots traveled to Estelline on Saturday to take part in the Redhawk Tournament. The Patriots would come away with the championship, sweeping all three matches that they played.
In the first match of the day, the Patriots would see the Langford Lions. In the first set, it was all Patriots as they used some aggressive serving and hitting to keep the Lions out of system. The Patriots would roll to a set one win 25-7.
Set two was a little closer as the Patriots had a hard time passing the ball and made some unforced errors. The Lions made it a game for most of the set, before the Patriots pulled away to win by a score of 25-17 and taking the match 2-0.
Katelyn Schroeder led the team with 9 kills. Lila Johnson and Rebecca Huizenga each added 3 kills. The team tallied 11 aces in the win, with Isabel Gilbert leading the team with 4 and Lila Johnson following with 3. Lila Johnson recorded 7 assists and Gracyn Bixler recorded 6 assists in the win.
Defensively, Schroeder recorded 7 digs, followed by Lila Johnson with 6. Huizenga had a block solo.
In the semi-final match, the Patriots met up with the Great Plains Lutheran Panthers. Each set started out back and forth before the Patriots would use some aggressive hitting and placing of the ball to go a mini runs and eventually win set one by a score of 25-14 and set two 25-19.
Schroeder recorded 11 kills and Gilbert tallied 5 kills. Lila Johnson recorded 15 assists in the match.
The front line showed up on defense as the Patriots recorded 10 block assists, with Huizenga having 3 of them and host of players recording 2. Schroeder had 11 digs, followed by Cambree Hoekman and Bixler with 6 each.
The championship match pitted the host school, Estelline-Hendricks, against the Patriots. The Redhawks controlled most of the first set as the Patriots found themselves down. Eventually, the Patriots got some good passes in and good set ups and would win the set by a final of 25-20.
Set two went a lot better, as the Patriots would get off to a 6-0 start behind Ella Johnson's serving. The Patriots would roll to the set two victory by a score of 25-10.
Schroeder recorded 15 kills in the victory. Ella Johnson would tally 4 kills. Lila Johnson tallied 12 assists and Bixler was right behind with 11.
Defensively, the front line did a good job as they recorded 10 block assists and 1 block solo. Huizenga would record 3 block assists and 1 block solo. Bixler also recorder 3 block assists. A host of players of Lila Johnson, Hoekman, and Schroeder all had 10 digs each in the win.
The Patriots improve to 5-0 with the three wins. They will have another big and busy week as they will travel to Faulkton on Tuesday to take on the Trojans in a rematch of the SoDak 16 match up from last season. First serve will be at 6:30 p.m. with the JV, followed by the Varsity.