Grafton serve seals first match win

Grafton High School’s volleyball team exploited an opponent’s weakness in its first match of the season and rode it to victory.

The Black Hawks beat Sheboygan Falls on the road, 25-17, 20-25, 25-13, 25-11, on Aug. 24.

The match was decided in the final two games on the Hawks’ serve.

“We took advantage of running their serve receive short and deep. That really helped us,” first-year coach Chad Tuszkiewicz said.

The Hawks won 15 points on serve in the third game and 18 in the fourth.

Gabi Haldeman, Lauren Malchow and Dani Thompson each had five of the Hawks’ 22 aces.

The serves coming from Thompson, a lefty who also pitches on the softball team, give opponents trouble because of the spin.

“Everybody’s used to seeing the ball come off of a right-handed player. You get that little bit difference of an angle,” Tuszkiewicz said.

Abby Proefrock and Leah Maciejewski each had 10 kills, and Katie Stockhausen had seven.

Thompson had 18 assists and Stockhause had 14 in Tuszkiewicz’s 6-2 system.

Maciejewski had three blocks.

Proefrock had 12 digs and Haldeman, the team’s libero, had nine.

Tuszkiewicz said senior middle blocker Camille Mirek didn’t dominate a stat line but was able to move at the net and get touches on balls that allowed the Hawks’ defense to get set and back on serve.

“She had an all-around solid game,” he said.

The team overall played well, Tuszkiewicz said.

“They played pretty good. We were kind of surprised ourselves a little bit in some areas, which is good,” he said.

The Hawks open North Shore Conference play at West Bend West on Thursday. They play at Cedarburg on Thursday, Sept. 9.