Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Over the course of their first three seasons as high school volleyball teammates Hattie Galloway and Kaitlin Loria learned to lean on one another.

When it came time for the two City High senior captains to take on critical leadership roles this season the duo naturally looked to split that responsibility.

“Hattie and I have been playing together for so long our connection really just translates out toward everyone else,” Loria said. “We’ve watched the past seniors while we were growing together and we know kind of automatically how to lead so we’ve really been trying to share that leadership as much as possible.”

So far that plan has worked to near perfection for the two senior Little Hawks.

Loria and Galloway continued strong starts to the season on Tuesday combining for 17 kills in a 25-18, 25-16, 25-27 sweep of Dubuque Hempstead (4-1) in a Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Division match at City High.

“(Both of us) have taken an extra step up as leaders but I think we continued on our natural trajectory as leaders as well,” Galloway said. “Being the oldest on the team it’s a big difference so you have to be more of a leader.”

Galloway and Loria are both four-year starters and the duo had combined for more than 1,000 career kills entering this season.

The two have played a central role in helping City High get off to a 6-1 start this season that includes a 2-0 mark in MVC Mississippi Division matches.

Galloway had a team-high 10 kills on Tuesday while adding three blocks while Loria had seven kills.

“She is just on another level this year,” City High coach Carolyn Giese said of Galloway. “Not just with our talent alone, her leadership is just top notch. Her and Kaitlin are captains and they are leading this team so well. They are just doing everything right.”

City High took control of the opening set with a 5-0 run that started with a block by junior setter Hazel Schluckebier and included a Loria kill.

The five-point burst gave City High a 14-7 lead it would never give up.

“It was such an electric crowd, it was really, really loud so it was hard to communicate,” Giese said. “The girls really dialed in with each other and they trusted the training and they were disciplined on their positioning and they made it work.”

In the second set City High broke open a 6-all tie with an 8-0 run behind the serving of senior Maeve Obermueller.

Obermueller had one of her two ace serves during the 8-0 burst that also featured a kill and a block from Schluckebier.

Schluckebier finished with five kills and three blocks while sophomore Georgia Sutherland had six kills and senior Rainie Pfohl had four kills.

“Our serving was incredible,” Loria said. “I think we only missed a few serves all match, we were serving tough and I think that really helped us and the momentum from that really helped us get over a few little humps.”

Dubuque Hempstead built an 11-6 lead in the third set but City High came storming back.

The Little Hawks went on a 10-1 run to take a 16-12 lead and never let the Mustangs get closer than three points the rest of the set.

“Coming off of a little bit of a disappointing season (9-19 last year) gave us a little more urgency,” Galloway said. “We fell short on a lot of games last year so really being able to push through late in games and having a winning mentality is important for us.”

Sydney Feldhacker had a match-high 11 kills to lead Dubuque Hempstead which dropped to 1-1 in Mississippi Division matches.

City High                               25  25  25

Dubuque Hempstead            18  16  17

City High (Kills-aces-blocks)

Hazel Schluckebier 5-1-3, Audrey Howe 0-1-0, Maeve Obermueller 2-0-0, Georgia Sutherland 6-0-0, Kaitlin Loria 7-0-0, Rainie Pfohl 4-2-0, Hattie Galloway 10-1-3, Totals 32-7-6.

Assists – Hazel Schluckebier 20, Audrey Howe 3

Dubuque Hempstead (Kills-aces-blocks)

CeCe Freihoefer 5-1-1, Sydney Feldhacker 11-1-1, Alli Ferris 2-0-0, Sophia Gratton 0-0-1, Layla Wilson 4-2-0, Ally Vondal 1-1-0, Totals 23-5-3.

Assists – Grace Eichhorn 17, Hayden Freiburger 6

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