The Lady Hawks hosted St. Labre on Tuesday, October 5th, with the Lady Hawks handily beating the Class B Lady Braves in three straight sets, 25-4, 25-11, and 25-12. The match allowed Broadus Head Coach Gordon Archer a chance to play some of his younger players, as he has done in other matches this year when Broadus had a fair lead.

That move would prove prescient as several of those younger players would step up to play in a high pressure match on Saturday, as Broadus traveled to the Ekalaka tournament. In the first match of the day at the double elimination tournament, Broadus easily handled Plevna 25-13 and 25-12, putting them up against Jordan.

Jordan had previously beaten Broadus in their first conference meeting of the year, as well as at an early tournament, and the Lady Mustangs looked to continue their streak as they won the first set, 22-25. In the second set, the Lady Hawks were ready to even the score as they fought ahead. As middle hitter Zeason Schaffer came down and twisted an ankle, Kendal Stanley took up the position. Taylor Hanson was already playing for Abi Krantz, who had suffered a back injury earlier in the week, so the Hawks now down two starters.

"After Z went down, something seemed to ignite within us," Archer commented. Broadus fought back and beat Jordan in the second set with a score of 27-25, and went on to win the third and final set, 15-10.

Broadus would then face Circle in the undefeated semi-finals, and the title was an apt description for Circle, which is thus far 11-0 on the season.

"I'll give it to Circle, they're a good team," Archer said of the match. "That being said, we didn't rise to the occasion and play our best volleyball." Broadus lost the match in two sets, 13-25 and 18-25.

The Lady Hawks then faced Jordan once again, this time in the tournament semi-final. Jordan seemed to find the antidote to Broadus' power in the second match of the day, as they won 25-13 and 25-20 over the Lady Hawks, making Broadus the third place team in the tournament.

Broadus will now have a challenging weekend of play as they host Circle on Friday, and travel to Jordan on Saturday.

Archer told us he expects Zeason Schaffer to be ready to play by this weekend, though Abi was still a question mark to play, as of Monday. Otherwise the Lady Hawks are healthy and hunting for more wins, as they head into the weekend with a 7-2 conference record and 9-2 overall record.