BLANCHARDVILLE - The Black Hawk Warriors kept its conference winning streak alive with a straight sweep of Pecatonica on Thursday night, 25-8, 25-16, 25-21.
"Honestly, we didn't know about (the streak)," Warriors head coach Rachel Wolff said. "I kind of hope they don't think about a streak like that (and) our girls take that with a grain of salt. Because if they don't, they might start thinking they have a bigger target on their back."
Right from the start, Black Hawk showed its dominating floor presence.
"I think we were intimidated at first," Pecatonica head coach Cher Schliem said. "We talked about not letting that happen."
The opening serve foreshadowed what was in store for the night - Ellie Gifford's serve landed out of bounds. Pecatonica ended the night with six more missed serves, and allowed nine aces.
"Our serving was poor tonight. We talked about giving it everything we've got and not giving away points like that," Schliem said. "We needed to bring our 'A' game from the get-go. We made it a little more challenging for ourselves."
From there, the Warriors jumped out to an 8-1 lead, which soon became a 17-5 advantage.
"I thought we came out nice in game one, but not so much in games two and three," Wolff said.
In the second game, Pecatonica again found itself down 8-1. Warriors junior Rachel Rygh scored three of her five aces in the run. However, the Vikings showed some resilience, netting four of the next five points to trail 9-5.
"(Pecatonica) caught us off guard a few times. They did a nice job hitting the ball at us," Wolff said.
However, the Warriors took seven of the next eight points, opening up a 16-6 advantage.
"We wrapped this up like a Christmas present and gave them the first two games. We can't be giving anybody points," Schliem said.
Pecatonica took the next three points, but Warriors senior Kim Wellnitz smacked a hard spike to the floor to get Black Hawk back on track.
"(Wellnitz) is definitely our leader on the court, both emotionally and physically. The girls look up to her," Wolff said. "She just keeps an even-keel and doesn't let anything effect her in the game."
In the third game, the Vikings again found themselves down 7-1 to start. Then, a spark hit. Elizabeth Ihm had three blocks and a kill, and Kimee Chandler had a block and another big kill as Pecatonica stormed back to take an 8-7 lead.
Black Hawk turned right around, getting a kill from Melissa Wellnitz and a pair of aces from Kim Wellnitz to take a 12-8 lead. But Pecatonica would not go away in the final frame, creeping back to within two points at 22-20 before the Warriors finished the game.
"By the time we decided to get something going, it was too late," Schliem said.
Kim Wellnitz finished with 13 kills for Black Hawk. Rygh added three kills to her slew of aces, Melissa Wellnitz slammed five kills and Alyssa Piefer had six assists. For Pecatonica, Jennah Schliem was a perfect 7-for-7 in serves with a pair of aces, Gifford had nine assists, Ihm had four blocks and Chandler finished with five kills.
"Honestly, we didn't know about (the streak)," Warriors head coach Rachel Wolff said. "I kind of hope they don't think about a streak like that (and) our girls take that with a grain of salt. Because if they don't, they might start thinking they have a bigger target on their back."
Right from the start, Black Hawk showed its dominating floor presence.
"I think we were intimidated at first," Pecatonica head coach Cher Schliem said. "We talked about not letting that happen."
The opening serve foreshadowed what was in store for the night - Ellie Gifford's serve landed out of bounds. Pecatonica ended the night with six more missed serves, and allowed nine aces.
"Our serving was poor tonight. We talked about giving it everything we've got and not giving away points like that," Schliem said. "We needed to bring our 'A' game from the get-go. We made it a little more challenging for ourselves."
From there, the Warriors jumped out to an 8-1 lead, which soon became a 17-5 advantage.
"I thought we came out nice in game one, but not so much in games two and three," Wolff said.
In the second game, Pecatonica again found itself down 8-1. Warriors junior Rachel Rygh scored three of her five aces in the run. However, the Vikings showed some resilience, netting four of the next five points to trail 9-5.
"(Pecatonica) caught us off guard a few times. They did a nice job hitting the ball at us," Wolff said.
However, the Warriors took seven of the next eight points, opening up a 16-6 advantage.
"We wrapped this up like a Christmas present and gave them the first two games. We can't be giving anybody points," Schliem said.
Pecatonica took the next three points, but Warriors senior Kim Wellnitz smacked a hard spike to the floor to get Black Hawk back on track.
"(Wellnitz) is definitely our leader on the court, both emotionally and physically. The girls look up to her," Wolff said. "She just keeps an even-keel and doesn't let anything effect her in the game."
In the third game, the Vikings again found themselves down 7-1 to start. Then, a spark hit. Elizabeth Ihm had three blocks and a kill, and Kimee Chandler had a block and another big kill as Pecatonica stormed back to take an 8-7 lead.
Black Hawk turned right around, getting a kill from Melissa Wellnitz and a pair of aces from Kim Wellnitz to take a 12-8 lead. But Pecatonica would not go away in the final frame, creeping back to within two points at 22-20 before the Warriors finished the game.
"By the time we decided to get something going, it was too late," Schliem said.
Kim Wellnitz finished with 13 kills for Black Hawk. Rygh added three kills to her slew of aces, Melissa Wellnitz slammed five kills and Alyssa Piefer had six assists. For Pecatonica, Jennah Schliem was a perfect 7-for-7 in serves with a pair of aces, Gifford had nine assists, Ihm had four blocks and Chandler finished with five kills.
