A strong start and equally impressive finish carried Hillsboro to a 3–1 victory over visiting Necedah last Tuesday night.
Sophomore Tasha Mitchell floored 15 kills, while fellow sophomore Brittany Borchardt made 11 digs to lead the Tigers to a 25–10, 23–25, 25–16, 25–12 victory over the Cardinals.
“We started off very strong in first set, but had a let down in set two before taking control over the next two sets,” said Tigers’ head coach Mark Sullivan.
Senior setter Kelsey Skala passed out 16 assists and sophomore Mackenzie Sullivan added 15 assists and a team-high three blocks.
Thursday night Hillsboro (11–6, 4–0 SBC) traveled to Bangor to play a pair of SBC matches as part of the Bangor Quad.
Hillsboro defeated the Cashton Eagles 25–14, 25–22, 24–26, 25–18 in the night’s opening match, then swept the Brookwood Falcons 27–25, 25–23, 25–9 to close out the night.
Senior middle hitter Sami Levy had 15 kills and three blocks, and Mitchell added 10 kills and three blocks in the Tigers’ victory over Cashton.
Mitchell led the Hillsboro with 13 kills and two blocks in the nightcap victory over Brookwood.
“We played well but this was a very competitive match,” said Sullivan of the close first and second sets. “We played some of our better ball in the third set to close it out. It’s nice to be 4–0 in conference, but it seems it will be a grind all year.”
Saturday Hillsboro went 2–2 and placed seventh out of 11 team with an uneven performance at the Holmen Invitational.
The Tigers lost their opening match to Westby 25–20, 26–24 before beating both Cochrane–Fountain City 25–21, 21–25, 15–12 and Gale–Ettrick–Trempeleau 25–14, 25–23. They closed out the day with a 27–25, 25–21 loss to Bangor.
“We played a great match against CFC where we played very well together,” said Sullivan. “It was a disappointing effort against Bangor at the end of the day. Our team can play lights out at times, but we have difficulty managing our emotions when things aren’t going well. We need to learn how to handle adversity more effectively to achieve our goals.”
Hillsboro hosted Brookwood on Tuesday and will next host Wonewoc–Center tonight.
