GLENWOOD -- Kendra Schmidgall's 36 kills in 78 attempts led Hancock to a 25-14, 26-24, 22-25, 32-30 win over Underwood in the Section 6A-South title volleyball match Thursday.
Schmidgall also had four ace blocks and 20 digs.
The Owls (27-1) will play Ada-Borup for the 6A championship at 7 p.m. Saturday at Hillcrest Lutheran Academy in Fergus Falls.
Hancock had an easy path through the first game, but Underwood toughened its defense the rest of the way.
"We came out in the first set and really dominated the match and had some good serving streaks," said Hancock coach Kristi Fehr. "(Then) Underwood picked their game up and figured out their blocking. We had to work real hard to find the holes in their defense."
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Courtney Greiner added 10 kills and Lauren Nelson eight. The top three attackers for the Owls had 52 of 58 kills.
Aria Walstad led the Owls with five ace serves and 44 assists. Shae Brown contributed three ace serves.
Underwood kept Hancock's defense busy. Ali Reese led the team with 29 digs, Nelson had 20, Walstad 17 and Illissa Koehl 16.
"Our diggers did a good job of keeping the ball in play. We just never gave up," Fehr said.
Hancock 3, Underwood 1
Underwood (23-6-1) 14 24 25 30
Hancock (27-1) 25 26 22 32
(Key: good-attempts-aces)
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Underwood
Statistics not reported
Hancock
Serving: Kendra Schmidgall 11-12-1, Ali Reese 14-14-1, Aria Walstad 24-25-5, Lauren Nelson 17-20-1, Illissa Koehl 13-14-0, Shae Brown 18-18-3 ... Setting: Reese 3-5-1, Walstad 84-90-44, Abby Ascheman 6-6-3 ... Hitting: Schmidgall 64-78-36, Reese 5-5-1, Walstad 9-9-4, Nelson 21-24-8, Courtney Greiner 25-29-10, Ascheman 7-7-1 ... Blocking (aces): Schmidgall 4, Nelson 2, Greiner 1 ... Digs: Schmidgall 20, Reese 29, Walstad 17, Nelson 20, Greiner 6, Koehl 16, Brown 11, Ascheman 3
