(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) RSM's Brielle Biezuns digs up a hit in the Hawks' loss at Unity Christian Tuesday evening. The sophomore had seven digs in the match, which the Knights won 3-0. The Hawks are back in league action tonight as they play at West Sioux in Hawarden. [Click to enlarge]

Remsen St. Mary's faced a formidable War Eagle Conference opponent Tuesday night in Unity Christian. The Knights came away with the win on their home court, maintaining their perfect league record, while the Hawks fell to 2-2 in the WEC with the 3-0 loss.

Both squads put up consistent points throughout the three-game match. RSM knocked down 11 points to Unity's 25 in game one.

In game two, the Knights bested the Hawks 25-10. Game three was much of the same with Unity coming away with the 25-10 win to sweep the match.

(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) RSM's Emma Krier smacks the ball over the net in Tuesday night's game at Unity Christian. The Hawks fell 3-0 in the league match. [Click to enlarge]

Despite the loss, however, St. Mary's coach Janelle Schorg was more than pleased with her squad's effort. "I think our team played awesome," she said. "We knew going in that it'd be tough to beat them."

"Our girls just showed a lot of pride on the night. We played with our hearts tonight. Even though we lost the games, it was a good win inside because we played well."

The Hawks have received numerous compliments throughout the season on their positive attitude and the fact that they are entertaining to watch. "I've had several comments from other teams saying that we're fun to watch and we have a lot of enthusiasm and energy when we play," Schorg said.

On offense, the Hawks were led by a pair of hitters with multiple kills. Sophomore Emma Krier smacked down a pair of kills while Samantha Theisen rained down two kills as well.

Brielle Biezuns was a nearly perfect 12-14 on attacks with one kill while Emily Roder added a kill to the effort.

Junior setter Jennifer Feller dished up six assists in the match.

Adding to the offense for St. Mary's were Feller and Mercedees Ricke. Ricke was a perfect 6-6 from the service line and the junior nailed an ace serve. Feller also added one ace in the match.

On defense, Ricke was the leader with a team-high 13 digs. Krier dug up eight balls while Biezuns and Theisen each recorded seven digs.

At the net, Kelsey Schroeder paced the Hawks with five blocks. Biezuns blocked four hits while Krier had three blocked attacks in the match.

RSM (4-7, 2-2) are back in action tonight with another War Eagle match-up on the road against West Sioux. "I have not seen them yet this year, but I've heard they're tough," Schorg said of the Hawks' next opponent.

This weekend, the Hawks will play in the Alta Tournament in preparation for next week's War Eagle Conference tournament.

RSM will face Hinton, Sergeant Bluff-Luton, Gehlen and Spalding in the pool play round of the WEC tournament, which begins next Thursday in Sergeant Bluff. The top two teams in the pool will advance to the finals on Saturday evening in Hawarden. The finalists will face the top two teams of the second pool, playing in Akron Thursday night. Unity Christian, Akron-Westfield, West Sioux, Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn and South O'Brien are in that pool.

"I think with the teams we'll face in our pool, we have a good chance of coming out at least second in our pool which will get us into the finals," Schorg said of the upcoming tournament.