EFFINGHAM — The Effingham Lady Hearts’ second season has begun.

    Going into Thursday’s matchup with Newton, Effingham’s overall record of 12-11 didn’t raise many eyebrows. After struggling against some top competition in their non-conference slate, the Hearts have rebounded and are now on top of the world — or, at least, the Apollo Conference — after reeling off seven straight conference wins in the first half of the conference season.

    Now, make that eight.

    The Hearts improved their Apollo Conference record to a perfect 8-0 after a 25-10, 25-20 win over Newton on Thursday night. The Hearts only needed two sets, but unforced errors in the second set made it more difficult than it should have been to put the Eagles away.

    “We went three sets with them the first time, but I think we’ve improved a lot since the beginning of the year,” Effingham coach Laurie Bohnhoff said. “We’ve got a lot more confidence and overall, our ability to play well together has improved.”

    In their first meeting with the Eagles on Sept. 7 in Newton, Effingham dropped the first set 25-22 but won the next two sets 25-15, 25-20.

    This time, the Eagles had more trouble. Starting three sophomores and only one senior, Newton showed its youthful inexperience early and often.

    Newton coach Nicole Underwood said a combination of youth and injuries has made this season a difficult one for the Eagles (3-19, 0-8 Apollo).

    “Our setters are young, and I think we’re getting better,” she said. “We had a few injuries, and when you compound that with our youth, it’s been a hard.”

    On Thursday, the Eagles and Hearts traded the first two points of the first set and Newton even went up 3-1 thanks to an Effingham service error and a long kill. But the Hearts went on an 11-1, run thanks in part to the serving of Brittany Worman, that put them up 11-4.  Worman had five of the Hearts’ six aces in the match, and three came in that first set.

    Newton couldn’t recover from Effingham’s solid serving and hard hitters and lost the set 25-10.

    In the second set, Effingham was similary dominant early but couldn’t seem to put the Eagles away. Despite working to a 15-5 lead, unforced errors kept the Eagles within striking distance. Newton’s Terra Flowers had a kill and Hillary Keller two aces to help inch the Eagles closer at 15-9 before a series of Effingham kills from Bailey Pals and Macy Friese built the lead up again, to 20-9.

    A string of Effingham errors kept eating away at the lead once again and it was 20-14.

    When the Hearts finally reached a matchpoint situation, it was 24-16. And again, unforced errors came back to haunt them — Effingham hitters missed three straight kills, followed by a Newton kill, before Shannon Daugherty finally ended things with the final kill of the match.

    “We struggled a bit at the start of the second set,” Bohnhoff said. “And then we made silly plays at the end that kept the ball alive and kept them in the game. It was a little sloppy.”

    Underwood recognizes that her team’s youth is making it harder to compete now but looked at the positives in this match.

    “Our skills are improving, so I’ve got to be pleased with that,” she said. “The last few matches, we’ve really played together well as a team. And when we do that, we’re good for a young team. Just give them a couple years and I think we’ll be there.”

   

No cakewalk for Hearts

    Despite the perfect Apollo start, Bohnhoff said it won’t get any easier the second time around.

    “Even though we won all our matches in the first half of the conference season, we’re not the type of dominant team where we’ll go in there very confident,” she said. “We have to work for every match.”

    They’ll travel to Charleston next week for their first big test of the second half.

    “I think Charleston, Mount Zion and Salem are three teams that are all equal with us,” she said. “And a few others show signs of having real nice hitters. It will be a battle until the end.”

Varsity statistics

Effingham — Bailey Pals (1 ace, 1 assist, 2 digs); Chelsea Bingham (5 digs); Stacey Eskew (3 kills, 1 block, 1 dig); Bryn Clemens (1 kill, 2 blocksm 1 dig); Macy Friese (2 kills, 1 dig); Brittany Worman (3 kills, 5 aces, 1 assist, 2 digs); Sam Zerrusen (5 kills, 7 assists, 2 blocks, 2 digs); Hali Schlechte (5 kills, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 6 digs); Kayley Stice (2 kills, 12 assists, 6 digs); KLatie Nuelle (5 kills, 2 digs); Michalle Woltman (2 assists); Shannon Daugherty (1 kill).

Newton — M. Jansen (2 assists, 1 dig); N. Schackmann (3 digs); G. Zerrusen (2 assists, 2 digs); H. Keller (1 kill, 2 blocks, 3 digs, 3 aces); S. May (1 kill, 1 block); B. Helmink (1 kill, 2 blocks); M. Swigler (1 block, 10 digs); K. Hardiek (1 dig); E. Earnest (2 digs); C. Probst (2 kills, 1 block, 2 digs).

JV match

Effingham def. Newton 25-9, 25-12

Effingham stats — Kourtney Utz (3 kills, 1 ace, 9 assists); Holly Moore (1 ace); Sara Diebel (1 kill); Kallie Koester (1 ace, 4 digs); Deedra Myers (1 assists, 3 digs); Macy Friese (1 kill, 1 ace); Madeline Totten (2 kills, 1 assist, 3 digs); Megan Vail (3 kills, 1 assist); Michelle Woltman (1 kill, 1 ace, 3 assists, 1 dig); Suzy Parks (1 kill, 1 ace, 1 dig); Shannon Daugherty 2 kills, 3 assists); Charlotte Bushue 1 assist); Aleese Kinney (2 assists); Kelli Utz (5 kills, 2 aces, 1 assist, 1 dig); Brandy Pontious (1 kill); Stephanie Robb (3 kills).

Fresh/soph match

Newton def. Effingham 23-25, 28-26, 12-11

Effingham stats — Mackenzie Cain (3 kills); Courtney White (3 aces, 1 dig); Sara Diebel (1 kill, 1 ace, 1 assist, 4 digs); Brooke Kistler (1 dig); Hope Moore (3 aces, 3 assists, 2 digs); Marisa Howell (2 assists); Carly Glaspy (1 ace, 1 dig); Holly White (3 kills, 1 dig); Kirsten Cramsey (3 digs); Stephanie Robb (4 kills, 1 ace, 1 block, 3 digs); Aleese Kinney (1 kill); Holly Wall (1 kill); Brandy Pontious (2 kills, 1 ace); Katie Bloemker (5 kills, 6 digs); Bethany Donaldson (1 ace, 9 assists, 2 digs).