Heartland split Saturday's games at the Kirkwood tourney against No. 1 Kirkwood and No. 15 DMACC behind a stellar offensive weekend from outside hitter Elena Kvasnicka.
Heartland faced its biggest challenge of the year against Kirkwood, but did not back down at all. Heartland jumped out to a 1-0 set lead after some timely points down the stretch. Set two went to Kirkwood after the Hawks took a step back. Set three was extremely tight, with both teams scratching and clawing to get points down the stretch, but Kirkwood ultimately won the set. Heartland kept fighting with a set four win before falling to Kirkwood in the fifth set, 10-15.
Kvasnicka was unstoppable on offense for the Hawks, setting a single-game school record with 30 kills in 54 attempts for a hitting percentage of .370. Outside hitters Ava Yeakel and Addi Pacha continued to excel on offense with 13 and 14 kills, respectively. On defense, Yeakel and Pacha were the catalyst again with 16 and 15 digs to lead the way. Middle block Lexie Robokoff-Mullen had four block assists as well. Setter Reece Elaine-Harrison had the most assists a Hawk has had all year with 55.
Heartland would go on to have another big test when facing DMACC, and the Hawks flexed their muscles. Heartland dropped the first set by five points, but bounced back with three straight convincing set wins to win the match. Kvasnicka continued her dominance with a team-high 16 kills along with 11 digs on defense. Yeakel was strong on both offense and defense with 11 kills and 17 digs. Elaine-Harrison set up her attackers at a high level again with 39 assists.
The Hawks play again this Wednesday against John Wood CC at the FRC at 6:00 p.m. The game will be livestreamed on Heartland Community Live Streams.
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