The Hermann High School girl’s varsity volleyball team kicked off their 2019 season under new Head Coach Phil Landolt, on Sept. 3, with home matches against the Montgomery County Wildcats. 


9/3 Montgomery County at Hermann

The Bearcats easily won both matches in the season opener 25-7 and 25-14.

This team shows they can serve with accuracy, earning six aces with only two errors; but the real stats come to light with the number of serves and total number of errors. The team had a serving percentage of 96 for these matches, with the majority of service attempts (that result in a point) going to Hannah Grosse (13, three aces, no errors), Holly Heldt (14, two aces, one error) and Grace Winkelmann (9 serving attempts that gained a point).

Winkelmann led the team with 15 attacks , 9 kills and three attack errors for a hitting percentage of .400. Grace Godat had 10 attacks with six kills on two errors for a hitting percentage of .400. Overall, the team had a hitting percentage of .240. 

For offensive ball handling, Hannah Gross did most of the heavy lifting with 17 assists. 

Defensively, Winkelmann handled most of the receptions with 9, followed by Chloe Witte with four. There were four total block assists and 21 total digs, with Chelsey Moeckli getting six, followed by Hannah Grosse with five and Winkelmann with four. It was a good way to start the season.


9/5 Jefferson City at Hermann

The Bearcats played the Jays right down to wire in these matches, winning the first 25-23, but losing the next two, closely, 25-27 and 21-25.

Once again, the Bearcats were serving well for all three matches, with a percentage of 90.3. Hannah Grosse, Grace Winkelmann and Chelsey Moeckli led service attempts with 15 apiece that led to a point being scored each time. Grosse and Macie Witthaus served three aces each. Winkelman led the attack charge with 50 (over 40 percent of 121 team total) and 20 kills and seven errors, leading to a hitting percentage of .260. 

Errors plagued the team, racking up twenty and holding their hitting percentage down to .182 ((kills-errors)/total number of attacks or 42 total team kills-20 total team errors/121 total team attacks).

On defense, Winkelmann also had over 50 percent of the number of receptions, with 36. Chloe Witte had 19 receptions of the team’s 69. Witte also had the greatest number of digs with 14, followed by Grosse (13) and Winkelmann (12) out of a team total of 53.

The 20 attack errors could have easily made a difference in the outcome of these matches.


9/12  Fatima (Westphalia) at Hermann

The Hermann teams, (9th-grade, JV and Varsity) were swept by the Comets at home. 

The varsity team lost in three matches, 25-15, 18-25 and 21-25. Junior varsity lost in three matches, 19-25, 25-18 and 21-25 and the 9th-graders lost 13-25 and 20-25.

Always competitive, this varsity team of Fatima seniors showed they could read our team well and could dial-in the soft touch of their dinks, literally by degrees based on the position of each player on our defense. Their blocking was consistent and effective against Grace Winkelmann’s attacks on the right, so the Bearcat strategy was to use Chloe Witte on the left side to hammer into no-man’s land behind Fatima’s front line on the right side of the net. It wasn’t that the Bearcats played a lackluster game—they were in it all the way, once Fatima got serious in the second match.

Offensively, the Bearcats had a serving percentage of 90.9. Holly Heldt had 14 service attempts with an ace and one error, while Winkelmann had 13 service attempts and one error, but also had the lion’s share of attacks with 52 and 20 kills for a hitting percentage of .314. Hanna Grosse had 10 service attempts with two aces, sharing that service attempt number with Macie Witthaus. The blocking and setting skills of Fatima frustrated the Bearcats, as they slammed 117 attacks towards the net, but were light on kills with 36. The team’s hitting percentage reached a disappointing .171, but Hermann’s defense was stopping Fatima as well. Hannah Grosse continued to be the go-to assist for set-ups, with 35 out of 36 for the three matches. 

Defensively, the team had 56 receptions and four block assists. Chloe Witte had the most digs with 11, followed by nine for Grosse and eight for Winkelmann.  Fatima proved to be more accurate in their attacks and it cost the younger Bearcats the game.


9/13-14 Crossroads Classic in Effingham, IL.

The varsity girls traveled to IL to compete among 24 teams from MO, KY, IL and IN. The Bearcats finished in 5th place in the Silver Bracket.


9/13 Pool play - Hermann vs Teutopolis (IL)

Hermann wins 25-16 and 25-13

The team had seven aces and a hitting percentage of .357. Standouts were Grace Winkelmann with 13 service attempts, five aces, 20 attacks and a hitting percentage of .400. Grace Godat had 12 service attempts, one ace and a hitting percentage of .667. Chloe Witte had 10 service attempts, 13 attacks, six kills and a .462 hitting percentage. Malerie Schutt had 9 attacks and five kills with a .444 hitting percentage. Winkelmann, Hannah Grosse and Chelsey Moeckli led defense with 9,9 and 8 digs, respectively. The team had 25 receptions with only one error.


9/14 Pool play - Hermann vs Normal University (IL) 2

Hermann loses 14-25 and 23-25

The Bearcats had trouble with their serving, achieving a serving percentage of only 73.7. Chloe Witte led with 12 serving attempts, two aces and a .429 hitting percentage. It’s notable the team’s hitting percentage was only .118. There were 45 receptions in this game of two matches, which shows the on-slaught of Normal’s offense on the Bearcats defense. Better serving might have taken this game into a third set.


After Pool Play, the 24 teams were divided equally, with the top eight teams in the Gold Bracket, the middle eight in the Silver Bracket and the bottom eight in the Bronze Bracket.


9/14 First match in the Silver Bracket

Hermann vs St. Francis (Wheaton, IL) 2

Hermann loses 8-25 and 25-27.


9/14 Second match in the Silver Bracket

Hermann vs Champaign Central, (Champaign, IL)

Hermann wins 25-15 and 25-15


9/14 Match for 5th Place in the Silver Bracket

Hermann vs Glenbard West

Hermann wins 25-18 and 25-20


During their fourth game of the day, the Bearcats showed a trend of improvement, with a 93.9 serving percentage and an overall .239 hitting percentage. Grace Winkelmann and Macie Witthaus each had 10 serving attempts that led to scores, followed by Chloe Witte with 9. Winkelman and Grace Godat each served up an ace.

Winkelmann continued to wither the opponent’s defense with 28 attacks and 12 kills. Witte followed suit with 12 and three kills and Malerie Schutt had 11 attacks and three kills. Hannah Grosse has proven to be an invaluable setter, with 21 assists in the game. Winkelmann, Chelsey Moeckli and Chloe Witte took 15, 11 and 10 receptions respectively. The team was powerful at the net, with two blocks and six assisted blocks, Grace Godat taking credit for four of those (two and two). The team had 34 total digs, with Grosse, Moeckli, Witte and Winkelmann receiving roughly seven apiece, the ball positioned for Hannah Grosse to set the spike for Winkelmann, Witte or Schutt.



The team played Tuesday against Rock Bridge High School, in Columbia, after the A-C went to the printer. They will play Thursday against Calvary Lutheran High School, in Jefferson City, at 6 p.m.



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