The sophomore tandem of Tasha Mitchell and Mackenzie Sullivan led Hillsboro to an easy 26–24, 25–16, 25–13 sweep of New Lisbon last Thursday in the Scenic Bluffs volleyball opener for both teams.

Mitchell floored a team-high 12 kills, while Sullivan played an all-around solid match with 17 assists, nine kills and three aces.

“We started off slowly in the first set and struggled with serve receive and hitting,” said Hillsboro head coach Mark Sullivan. “But I was happy that the girls kept their poise to finish off the first set and then controlled the rest of the match.”

The Tigers (6–4, 1–0 SBC) held on for a two-point win in the first set, but dominated the rest of the match outscoring the Rockets (3–2, 0–1) 50–29 combined in the final two sets despite posting a .196 hitting percentage for the match.

“We definitely showed signs of nerves with it being our first conference match,” said Sullivan. “I felt some of our kids were trying to not make a mistake which led to some free balls for New Lisbon. Our defense was sound, but we have a lot of things we can focus on to improve for our next match.  I think the kids will gel more together with time on the court.

“I was pleased with the effort, but need to be able to make corrections during a match to avoid repeating the same mistakes over and over again. It was good to win our first match and hopefully will continue the process of becoming a strong conference team.”

Hillsboro hosted Necedah on Tuesday and will next travel to Bangor Sept. 12 for a pair of conference matches against Cashton and Brookwood at one of this year’s four SBC clusters. The Tigers will travel to the Wonewoc–Center cluster on Oct. 3 for a pair of conference matches against Royall and Wonewoc–Center.

Hillsboro will also compete in Saturday's Holmen Invitational before hosting Brookwood on Tuesday.