JV Hawks take home tourney title

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

The Holy Cross Collegiate Hawks just needed a little encouragement to get back on track in the finals of their hosted tournament.
After reaching the finals of their annual junior varsity tournament following an undefeated run through the round robin, the Hawks finally hit some adversity.
They were poised to host the trophy after taking the first set 25-19 against the Vauxhall High School Queens; the Hawks dropped the second set fairly easily, 25-17.
That’s when Taleah Ross, Hawks head coach, needed to light a fire under her team.
“They’re a really coachable group. I don’t think many of them are used to a loud coach like myself,” said Ross. “After we dropped the second set, I came out and yelled at them. They responded well and we bounced back in the third set.”
In the clinching set, the Hawks pulled in front and were never seen from again.
They led 8-5 into the switching of sides, and led 14-6 with plenty of championship points in the bank.
After the Queens showed a little bit of resiliency with back-to-back points, a botched serve handed the Hawks the trophy, in not-so-dramatic fashion.
“Lots of work went into this victory this weekend. We went through a lot of different things, broke down most of our drills in the games and I saw a lot of great things from these girls this weekend,” said Ross. “I’m excited to see what the rest of our season looks like.”
Renee Stinson led the Hawks with 23 kills. Right behind her was Hannah Anderson with 21.
Stinson was also dominant in the service game, carving up 11 of the Hawks 34 aces throughout the tourney.
The Hawks opened the tourney without dropping a set through the round robin slate.
They dusted off the Clear Water Academy Crusaders 2-0 (25-18, 25-14), grounded the Heritage Christian Academy Hawks 2-0 (25-13, 25-21), swept the Queens 2-0 (25-22, 25-19) and cooked the St. Joseph’s Collegiate Crusaders 2-0 (25-19, 25-19).
The Hawks hosted the Foothills Composite High School Falcons Oct. 4 at HCC gym.