ALBANY — It took a little while for Black Hawk to find its feet in the Six Rivers East opener, but once the Warriors got going, it was a locomotive unable to be slowed down. Black Hawk rolled past Albany in straight sets Aug. 28, 25-10, 25-7, 25-17.

“At our tournament over the weekend we did kind of the same — we started off a little slow. So that’s definitely something we need to work on,” Warriors coach Rachel Wolff said. “But once they figured out the tempo they played their game. It did take a little bit and made me nervous for a little while, but I knew that they would come through.”

Albany kept pace with Black Hawk right out of the gates, and after a sideout and two service points had the first set even at 7-7. Then the sleeping giant was awoken, as the Warriors closed out the set on an 18-3 run, including a 9-0 run and an ace to close it out on Savannah Burmeister’s serving.

“They are not only serving ‘in’ but they are hitting their zones, and that’s a great asset to have,” Wolff said of her team. “I think we only missed two on the night. We’ll take that. You’ve got to love good serving, because that is a key to a successful team.”

Hannah Butler had five kills and a key block in the set for Black Hawk. She finished with a team-high 14 kills, three blocks and had two big digs that helped spark rallies.

“It’s really fun, really competitive,” Butler said of re-entering regular season play. “Everybody was pretty pumped for our first game.”

In the second set, Burmeister kept the streak going, serving Black Hawk to eight straight points — and 16-in-a-row total — with two more aces before finally a deep serve out of bounds gave Albany a chance to possess first touch. Burmeister finished with five aces and 13 assists.

“I definitely think we had some moments where we were really working together and shining through,” Albany head coach Sydney Bump said. “I think that shows the potential that we have, but I think we just have to find ways to rally back after those long service runs.”

The Comets were unable to get anything going in the second set, however, and quickly found themselves down 17-4. 

“After that second game and before that third game I asked them, ‘What is our theme for the year?’ It’s team unity. No matter what, if we win, we win as a team, and if we lose, we lose as a team,” Bump said. “We need to show our town that we are a different team this year and that we play as a team. That kind of helped give them a little more confidence in that third game.”

The third set appeared to be headed down the same path, with Black Hawk easily scoring four-straight points thanks to miscommunication and failed volley returns. Then Cindy Detra picked up a kill to light a bit of a spark. Brianna Dahl and Ashli Landen each scored kills and Jada Flannery had a momentum-gaining ace for the Comets that helped keep the home team in the mix at 13-9.

“We have a really young team this year,” Bump said before issuing high praise to Dahl, her squad’s youngest player. “I was really happy with Brianna’s performance — she’s a freshman, and our only freshman on varsity right now. She’s very athletic and she has the potential to become, I’ll just say it, probably better than I was.” Bump was a two-time conference player of the year and played four years in college before returning home to take the reigns as coach of her former team.

After the Albany surge, Black Hawk seized control again, scoring five straight points to make it 18-9, but one final push brought the Comets to within five at 20-15.

Libby Beck led Albany with seven digs, and Dahl had three kills and a crucial block in the third set. Payton Zurfluh had eight assists and Kaitlyn Dunphy had seven assists. Albany entered the year expecting to have senior setter Sydney Bloedel as an experienced leader on the floor, but Bloedel transferred before the regular season began.

“Our starting setter transferred and we lost her that first week of practice. It’s been a challenge to get a lineup put together, because we were kind of banking on that position being filled,” Bump said.

Black Hawk (1-0 Six Rivers East) traveled to Monticello on Thursday and hosts Juda on Tuesday. The Warriors have its biggest match of the early season Sept. 6 at defending champion Argyle. Albany (0-1), travels to Barneveld Tuesday and then goes to Monticello Sept. 6.

“We have to work on consistency and communication. We’ve got girls working in different places, and they have to be willing to work with each other, but communication is definitely going to help them with all the problems they can have on a volleyball court,” Wolff said. “And then just hustle and drive to every ball. When in doubt, I say, it’s not out.”