It was Homecoming Week in Hayes Center on Thursday where the Wolves hosted Maxwell. It took five sets to find the winner as the Wildcats and the Wolves traded sets to force a deciding set where MHC came from behind to steal the deciding set and the match 3-2.
In set one, both Maxwell and MHC traded errors but the Wildcats were able to jump out to the 5-2 lead over the Wolves. MHC took the 9-6 lead and went on a long run with Blayklee Farr at the service line to extend their lead from 12-8 to 17-8. The Wolves extended their lead in set one off of errors from Maxwell to 21-11 before a service error from the Wildcats ended set one in favor of MHC, 25-15.
In set two, it was a similar script where they traded errors but this time it was the Wolves who jumped to the 4-2 lead. Errors gave Maxwell some momentum and the reclaimed the lead at 6-4. Things started clicking for the Wildcats and they were went on a run to lead 15-8. Maxwell gained a little more momentum after winning a long rally with a huge save to extend their lead to 18-8 followed by a big block to read 19-9. That wasn't all from MHC though, they began to climb back into the set making the score 21-13. Jenna Miller had an ace for Maxwell at 23-14 and another big block at 24-15 but MHC made a little run with a score of 24-17 but a service error from the Wolves ended the set in favor of Maxwell, 25-17.
Set three was tight as they were tied at 4-4 before MHC got a small lead at 8-6. The Wildcats weren't going away though, the Wolves remained in the lead but the two exchanged some errors with the score reading 12-9. A big block from MHC forced a Maxwell timeout at 13-9. It was a block party as the Wolves had another block a couple of points later at 15-11. Big swings from both squads but it was still MHC who led the set at 20-12. The Wolves kept their foot on the gas but the Wildcats were hanging with them until the end. Maxwell had a net violation to end set three in favor of MHC with a score of 25-14.
Set four was tight at the start, 2-2 but Maxwell found their groove in this set slowly creating a lead for themselves. The Wildcats forced a timeout after an ace serve from Miller for the score to read 7-3. After a big block and a big kill from Kristyn Cheek after a replay extended the Maxwell lead to 15-7. Maxwell was rolling now as they went on to win the set 25-13 and force a deciding set.
In set five Maxwell jumped out to a 3-0 lead but MHC wasn't going to go down that easy and went on a 3-0 run of their own to even it up at 3-3 but kept the run going as they took the 5-3 lead over Maxwell. The Wildcats answered with a swing and block to knot it up at 5-5. Maxwell went on a little run to force a timeout from the Wolves at 11-7. MHC came out of that timeout firing and after some back and forth, it was tied up again with the score reading 13-13 and Maxwell using a timeout. MHC took the fifth set with a score of 15-13 and took the match 3-2.
For Maxwell, as a team the Wildcats had 12 aces with Kylee Wyman leading the team with three. Victoria Quick led the team with 17 kills while Jenna Miller and Kristyn Cheek each had eight kills. Jayda Frederick posted four blocks in the match while Wyman had 14 digs, Emory Christensen had 13 digs, and Cheek had 11 digs. Christensen also tallied 27 assists.
Unofficially for Maywood-Hayes Center, Blayklee Farr had 12 kills, Karissa Stengel had 10 kills, and Caylie Softley had seven kills. As a team, MHC had eight aces.
Maxwell falls to 3-3 and will be back in action on Tuesday as they travel to Overton for a dual.
Maywood-Hayes Center improves to 6-2 and will be in action on Saturday as they travel to Hitchcock County for a tournament.
Check out our highlights from the match brought to you by Prairie Girl Candle Company
