PCM volleyball sweeps South Hamilton on Senior Night

MONROE — Addison Steenhoek thought something was fishy before Thursday’s Heart of Iowa Athletic Conference matchup with South Hamilton.

The Mustang senior saw balloons in the training room and wondered what they were for.

After the 25-19, 25-8, 25-15 home win over the Hawks, Steenhoek found out the balloons and celebratory signs were for her.

Steenhoek’s now the school-record holder for career digs and digs in a single match.

“I had no clue any of this was happening. It was a fun surprise,” Steenhoek said after the win. “I saw the balloons in the training room and asked what they were for. My teammates said they were for the other team. I had a lot of family and friends here to support me so that was awesome, too.”

The Mustangs started slow on Senior Night but dominated the second and third sets. The victory kept them above .500 for the season and improved their conference mark to 3-2.

South Hamilton is 9-4 against PCM since 2010, but the Mustangs registered their second straight sweep and are winners of four of the past five matches against the Hawks.

Addyson Pederson’s kill and Steenhoek’s ace gave PCM an early lead in the first set, but the game was tied at 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Another Steenhoek ace made it 10-7 later and an ace by Rebecca De Vries kept the advantage at three at 13-10.

South Hamilton (6-20, 1-4 in the HOIAC) got within 13-12 before PCM scored three straight to go up by four.

The Hawks never got closer than two the rest of the way, and the Mustangs ended the set on a 6-2 run.

The biggest reason for the tight first set was in part because of five missed serves by PCM. It missed eight serves in the entire match.

“We’ve started slow the last few matches. It’s taken a minute to settle in for some reason,” PCM head volleyball coach Sarah De Vries said. “We need to focus on the strengths but work on the weaknesses, too. Our serving goes up and down. The first set was terrible.”

The Mustangs (9-7) scored the first five points of the second set. Pederson began the run with a block and ended it with a kill.

A Steenhoek ace later kept the margin at five and then a block by Libby Winters, a kill by Rebecca De Vries and an ace by Peyton Lathrum extended PCM’s advantage to 13-4.

The Mustangs led 15-5, 16-6 and 17-7 before back-to-back kills by Winters and Chloe Sloan pushed the margin to 19-7.

That’s as close as South Hamilton got the rest of the way as PCM ended the set with a 5-0 run.

“Our serving hasn’t been quite what it was earlier in the season,” Steenhoek said. “We needed to get back to the basics, be confident and get all of our hits in.”

A long service run by Tori Lindsay helped PCM score the first seven points of the third set. She ended the run with back-to-back aces. The lead grew to 14-2 thanks in part to a pair of kills from Lillian Humpal and two Steenhoek aces.

The Hawks didn’t go down without a fight. A Winters block made it 17-6 and her kill kept the lead at double-digits later. South Hamilton closed to 22-15 before a kill and a block from Pederson and an ace by Steenhoek ended the match.

Steenhoek finished with 17 digs and six aces. She extended her school-record for career digs to 587. Chelsea Bird, the previous record holder, finished her career with 533 digs.

“It was obviously fun. We’ve been playing together since we were little so winning on a night like this is cool,” said Steenhoek about the Senior Night win. “We had a lot of fans here tonight so we wanted to get the win for them, too. It’s nice to end our careers on this floor with a win.”

Lindsay finished with 25 assists, three digs and four aces. She leads the team with 258 assists and 43 aces.

De Vries added 10 kills, two assists, three digs and two aces. Her kill efficiency was .500 and she improved her season kill total to a team-best 112.

Winters chipped in seven kills, three digs and two blocks. Her kill efficiency was .400 and she now leads the Mustangs with 30 blocks.

Pederson registered five kills and two blocks, Sloan and Humpal tallied three kills each and Stella Stravers posted three digs. Pederson’s kill efficiency was .375.

The Mustangs finished 66-of-74 in serves with 14 aces. Lindsay was 21-of-22 in serves, while Steenhoek ended 18-of-19, De Vries was 9-of-10, Winters and Lathrum served 6-of-7 and Humpal was 6-of-6. PCM had a kill efficiency of .231.

“It’s a mental game just as much as it’s a physical game,” Coach De Vries said. “When you are in your head too much and worried about mistakes, sometimes you don’t play as fluidly as you should. They need to just let that natural ability flow and go after it.”

Notes: Steenhoek broke her own single-match school record for digs with 33 earlier this season in a road loss to Sigourney. She currently has a team-best 142 digs. … Coach De Vries inserted Stravers and Sloan into the starting lineup together for the first time this season. It was the second start for Sloan and Stravers’ first start this fall. Senior Rebecca De Vries and senior managers Madeline Burkett and Jake Winters also were recognized before the varsity match. “Stella has always been a strong back row player,” Coach De Vries said. “She does great in practice. She did an awesome job tonight. Chloe was aggressive. She goes after the ball. We love having her on this team.”