The Broadus Lady Hawk Volleyball team traveled to the Fairview Tournament last Saturday for their season opener, which meant a number of matches played in quick succession for the Lady Hawks.

Long-time Head Coach Gordon Archer noted that the 8th grade players who had got the call up to play High School will be mostly be available for next week’s games, none were available at Fairview.

The format at Fairview consisted of 3 pool matches, which would then seat the teams into brackets; they would then play a tournament format from there to determine a winner.

The Lady Hawks led off against Jordan, a young team who are still building their program.

Broadus won both sets handily against Jordan, 25-13, and 25-12. “I was pleased with our first match,” Archer said of the win against Jordan. “We served, passed, and hit well.”

Next up, Broadus faced Terry, losing the first 23-25, but rallying in the second game to beat Terry 25-15.

The next opponent, Wibaux, was a tough team, having only lost one player after a good season last year. Broadus lost both of these games, 11-25, and 12-25. “We didn’t play well against Wibaux, which is no slight to them, they’re a good team. I just don’t think we played to our ability,” Archer said of the match.

Broadus now went into a double elimination tournament, with the top four teams from the tournament – the other three teams being Ekalaka, Fairview, and Wibaux.

These matches would be played in the standard season format, with three games per match.

Broadus first faced Ekalaka, which is coming off a great season, having only lost one player last year. “They’re expected to be a salty team this year,” Archer noted.

“We started out slowly in the first, slowly improving, but couldn’t quite catch up,” Archer said. The first game ended 16-25 with Ekalaka on top. Broadus then battled back in the second game, winning 26-24.

“The third game could’ve gone either way,” Archer described. Ekalaka showed their might, winning 15-12 over Broadus.

Broadus finished its weekend against Fairview, losing 16-25 and 8-25.

Archer summed up the tournament: “Overall, I’m pretty happy with the tournament. We had to move some players around to positions they wouldn’t normally play, and put some young players in high stress situations. We have room to improve, but from what I saw of how the girls played, overall I’m happy with their performance.”

Individual stats from the Fairview tournament were not available.

Broadus hosted Terry on Tuesday, after we went to press, and will play at Ekalaka this Thursday. Junior High matches begin at 3 PM, with High School matches to follow.