On Saturday, October 12, the Lady Hawks made a long road trip to Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, to compete in a double triangular. The other participating competitors were the Banner County Wildcats, the Leyton Warriors, and the Pine Bluffs Hornets.

The Lady Hawks’ first match of the day was against the Leyton Warriors. The Warriors jumped out to a quick lead and held on for the win in the first set, winning 25-11. The second set of the game was very close, with both of the teams exchanging points back and forth until Leyton was able to close the deal and win the second set, 25-22. For the Lady Hawks, Cydney Jancik had 2 aces, 4 service points, 3 kills, and 4 digs. Whitney Heiting added 5 digs and 2 aces, and Steph Tlustos had 4 digs, 3 kills and 4 assists.

The Lady Hawks’ next game was against the Lady Wildcats of Banner County in the final game of the day. The Hawks were able to win easily in straight sets, with the scores of 25-15 and 25-13. Whitney Heiting had 5 aces and 5 service points for the Lady Hawks, along with 3 kills and 4 digs. Kate Roberts had 6 kills, 3 aces, and an assist, while Steph Tlustos added 3 aces, 5 points, 7 assists and 4 kills.

The Lady Hawks suffered a tough loss on their Homecoming night, losing to Crawford for the first time of the season. Although the Hawk girls have beaten the Rams twice before this year, they could not manage to pull through on Thursday night. The game went 5 sets; the Hawks winning the first and third sets with scores of 25-19 and 25-22. Crawford won the second, fourth, and final sets with scores of 25-11, 25-22, and 15-9.

Steph Tlustos and Cydney Jancik led the Lady Hawks with 11 points each, followed by Whitney Heiting with 8 points, and Sydney Tlustos with 7.  Cydney Jancik also headed off the ace serves, followed by the Tlustos sisters, senior Steph and freshman Sydney, with 7 aces each. Steph Tlustos was the big hitter of the night, scoring 9 kills against the Lady Rams. She was flanked by Whitney Heiting with 7 kills, and Cydney Jancik with 6. The Hay Springs’ girls dug up quite a few Crawford balls; Whitney Heiting leading the team’s digs with 7, trailed by Kate Roberts and Katrena Ryan with 5 digs a piece, and Steph Tlustos and Cydney Jancik, each with 4.  The high blocker for the Hawks was Kate Roberts with 4 blocks against the Rams. Whitney Heiting and Jen Scherbarth each added 2 blocks against their opponents. The senior setters racked up the assists; Steph Tlustos leading with 14 and Jesse Heiting following right behind with 10.

At the end of the night, the Hay Springs Lady Hawks left the gym with a winning record of 11-9. The Hawks play next in Sioux County, for Panhandle Conference. The other teams in the Conference are Morrill, Crawford, Hemingford, Sioux County, and Edgemont.