Early last week, Hermann Middle School (HMS) Lady Bearcat volleyball teams coached by Alida Laaker and Phil Landolt took on Bland’s Lady Bears and Pacific’s Lady Indians.

Starting the week off last Monday night, Hermann hit the road into Gasconade County to face the host Lady Bears at Bland Middle School.

In a tightly contested match, Hermann’s 7th grade squad fell in two sets at Bland 25-23 and 25-21 while their eighth-grade counterparts posted a two-set victory over the host Lady Bears by scores of 27-25 and 25-20.

During seventh-grade action. Elana Towery and Lyndsey Krueger each had three aces in game one for the Lady Bearcats while Bailey Fennessey added two kills and an ace.

Game two saw Raelynn Kleinheider record two aces while Fennessey and Towery combined for five kills in game two for Hermann.

Locked up in a battle during game one, Hermann got an ace apiece in eighth-grade action from Kennedy Schwenck, Jenna Fredrick and Siena Palladino.

Palladino’s ace gave Hermann a 26-25 lead in game one before her serve and a kill from Schwenck helped the Lady Bearcats take game one from the Lady Bears.

Tied at 4-4 early in game two, Schwenck served the next three points which included an ace helping Hermann to a 7-4 lead.

A Schwenck kill and two Nora Leeper aces helped the Lady Bearcats to a 12-5 advantage midway through the second set.

Three aces from Kylee Schweighauser bumped Hermann’s lead back up to 17-11 before Schwenck served the final four points of the match giving the Lady Bearcats game two and the match.

Hosting Pacific’s Lady Indians last Tuesday night at Hermann High School, seventh-grade action went to Pacific in three sets 25-23, 16-25 and 16-14 while the eighth-grade match ended up in Hermann’s favor also going three sets by scores of 25-12, 24-26 and 15-10.

Kleinheider and Towery each had an ace for Hermann in game one of the seventh-grade match while Krueger recorded a pair of kills.

Three aces from Towery along with two aces each out of Krueger and Kleinheider helped the Lady Bearcats square the match at a set apiece.

Leading 12-9 on a pair of Kleinheider aces late in game three, Hermann could not overcome key errors leading to Pacific taking the third set and the match.

Eighth-grade action saw Hermann take game one behind five aces apiece from Schwenck and Fredrick in addition to three more service aces out of Schweighauser.

Racing out to a 9-1 lead in game two behind four service points apiece from Jacklyn Hudson and Khloe Cuellar, Hermann appeared in good position to sweep the match in two sets.

Later leading 20-14 on three more Hudson service points, Hermann saw Pacific score 12 of the next 16 points to force a deciding third set.

Tied at 1-1 early in game three, a Schwenck kill led to four Cuellar service points and a 6-1 lead.

Schweighauser went on to serve the final five points of the match giving Hermann their second win in as many matches during eighth-grade action.

Saturday tournament action for Hermann’s 7th graders in Washington and in Owensville for Hermann’s eighth graders yielded lots of valuable court time.

Hermann fell in all five of their matches at Washington against Union, Pacific, St. Clair, Sullivan and the host Lady Blue Jays.

Over in Owensville, Hermann swept Steelville 25-19 and 25-19 before losing their next three pool matches against Pacific, St. Clair and Union.

Hosting St. James’ Lady Tigers last night (Tuesday) at Hermann High School, HMS volleyball will return to action later this week tomorrow (Thursday) night at New Haven and on Friday at home against Sullivan with both matches set for a 5:30 p.m., first serve.