Top-seeded defending champion Hawley opened defense of their Class AA State Volleyball title with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-15) win over New London-Spicer in a quarterfinal round battle at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday. The win is the 30th of the season for the Nuggets against two defeats.
Katie Vetter led the attack with 13 kills, while Sella Fleming (8 kills), Annaka Johnson (7 kills) and McKenna Walker (6 kills) also contributed at the net. Fleming distributed 29 set assists. Hannah Stotts recorded a team high 14 digs, while Vetter added 12, Jocelyn Schenck had 9 and Walker chipped in with 8. Fleming and Johnson had 2 blocks each. The Nuggets missed just one serve out of 73 attempts for an efficiency of .986. Johnson (20/20, 5 aces), Walker (14/14), Fleming (12/12, 2 aces), Stotts (10/10, 1 ace) and Vetter (9/9, 1 ace) were all perfect from the line.
Hawley will face New Life Academy of Woodbury in a semifinal round match at 5:00pm Friday. New Life Academy needed five sets to dispose of fourth-seeded Southwest Christian.