By Chad Koenen

Publisher

The Frazee Hornets improved to 3-1 overall and secured a thrilling 3-2 win over Perham in their Heart O’ Lakes Conference opener last week.

After sweeping Lake Park-Audubon on Tuesday night, the Hornets upended the Yellowjackets at home to improve to 1-0 in HOL action. 

This week the Hornets will travel to Pelican Rapids on Thursday night for their second conference game of the season, before heading to Hawley for a tournament on Saturday. 

Tuesday

Ruby Eckert finished with 11 kills and 15 digs and Neveah Wirth chipped in with eight kills of her own as the Frazee Hornets blew past the Lake Park-Audubon Raiders 3-0 on Tuesday night. The Hornets won the first game by a score of 25-21, before coming away with dominating wins in the second and third set by scores of 25-17 and 25-14 to complete the sweep.

Bentley O’Hara finished the game with seven kills and Maggie Blaine also had a solid night at the net with five kills, while Ella Ullrich led the way with 24 assists to go along with nine digs. 

KILLS- R. Eckert 11, N. Wirth 8, B. O’Hara 7, M. Blaine 5, L. Schmid 3, A. Aschnewitz 2

Assists- E. Ullrich 24, J. Nelson 9

Aces- R. Eckert 2, K. Aschnewitz 1, E. Ullrich 1

Digs- R. Eckert 15, E. Ullrich 9, K. Aschnewitz 7, J. Nelson 6, N. Wirth 5, K. Courneya 5,L. Schmid 1

Solo Blocks- N. Wirth 1

Block Assists- A. Aschnewitz 2, N. Wirth 1, R. Eckert 1, M. Blaine 1, B. O’Hara 1

Thursday

The gym was electric on Thursday in the Highway 10 Battle of the Bees between the Hornets and Yellowjackets. Fortunately for Frazee, they were able to take advantage of the hometown crowd as they pulled out a thrilling 3-2 win over the Perham Yellowjackets in a match that had people abuzz even 24 hours later in town.

Frazee jumped out to a 2-0 lead after narrowly defeating Perham 25-20, 25-21 in the opening two sets of the night, before Perham fought back to take the third set 25-18. 

It was another tight battle in the fourth set as Perham was able to do just enough down the stretch to take its second straight game, this time by a score of 25-23 to force Frazee to its first fifth game match of the season.

In the fifth and final set, Frazee broke a two set losing streak by coming away with a narrow 15-12 win to upend the Yellowjackets and send the hometown crowd buzzing into the streets 3-2. 

Frazee had three team members finish with a double-double int he game with Ruby Eckert leading the way with 21 kills and 17 digs, while Jordan Nelson finished with 19 assists and 11 digs and Ella Ullrich finished with 13 assists and 11 digs. 

In addition to Eckert, Addison Aschnewitz and Lauryn Schmid had solid nights at the net for the Hornets as they finished with seven kills apiece. Eckert and Jordan Nelson each led the team with three ace serves, while Neveah Wirth led the team with 18 digs. Also reaching double-digits in digs were Eckert with 17, Kaija Jordan Nelson with 15, Ullrich with 11, Nelson with 11 and Katie Courneya narrowly missed joining them in double figures with nine. 

Kills- R. Eckert 21, A. Aschnewitz 7, L. Schmid 7,N. Wirth 3,E. Ullrich 2, B. O’Hara 2, J. Nelson 2

Assists- J. Nelson 19, E. Ullrich 13, N. Wirth 4, R. Eckert 4

Aces- R. Eckert 3, J. Nelson 3, K. Courneya 1

Digs- N. Wirth 18, R. Eckert 17, K. Aschnewitz 15, E. Ullrich 11, J. Nelson 11, K. Courneya 9