EDWARDSBURG — When Edwardsburg seniors Jocelyn Hack and Skyelar Burlingham are on the court receiving sets from junior Emma Strefling, South Haven’s side struggled to compete against the trio.

The Eddies beat the Rams in three sets 25-18, 25-20 and 25-11.

With each game, once the trio was lined up at the net, the kills and blocks started piling up. Especially, at the beginning of the second set when Edwardsburg was trailing South Haven by a few points until Burlingham had a kill on one play and Hack connected with Strefling for four consecutive blocks that resulted in Edwardsburg points.

The versatile playing style of Burlingham and Hack, the two lone seniors on the team, helped contribute to the team’s multiple rallies of spiking sprees sustained throughout all three games.

“They are our go-to,” Edwardsburg coach Nikki Bush said of Hack and Burlingham. “We have them play six rotations because they understand the game the most. They see the court. They really lead our team.”

In the first set, the Eddies had an early lead after kills by Sophia Overmyer, Paige Miller and Hack. In addition, the Rams made serve receive errors and violations at the net, contributing to Edwardsburg’s early victory.

Bush said the team changed its focus each set. In the second set, Edwardsburg focused on its serve receive.

“Our serve receive wasn’t so good and that’s where that close game came in,” Bush said referring to the close 25-20 win.

During the set, both Burlingham and Hack each had seven kills against the Rams. Overmyer added three kills and Miller added two. With Hack and Strefling as a blocking duo, they shut down South Haven’s dominant middle hitter.

In the third set, the team focused on shutting down the Rams’ runs, which Bush said the team accomplished.

For years, Hack has been playing with a lot of her teammates on Krush Volleyball, including Strefling.

“We’ve always been really good friends,” Hack said. “We had a couple classes together last year. We just have a really good friendship off the court and so it carries onto the court with our connection.”

Bush agrees the team’s chemistry is cohesive due to a lot of the girls playing together for many years.

“They know each other,” she said. “They know each other’s habits. They just connect really well. We are blessed with that.”

Moving forward, Hack wants to continue to elevate her team’s intensity.

“I mean it’s just good to be able to beat teams 25- 11,” she said. “I think the intensity from me getting kills carries onto other girls gaining intensity and gaining confidence. It’s a lot of fun to be able to do stuff like that.”