GARWIN – It wasn’t the most conventional or pretty or easiest way to get the first Iowa Star Conference South Division win, but GMG volleyball head coach Adam Bauder and the Wolverines will take them where they can get them. In a three-straight set win against Meskwaki Settlement on Thursday night, the Wolverines (10-4, 1-0 Iowa Star South) nabbed their first divisional win of the year. “We’re 1-0 in the [South Division], that’s what I’m going to say,” Bauder said. “We came out, did what we’re supposed to do, play who’s on the schedule and we came out on top.” The Wolverines put the Warriors (1-13, 0-1 Iowa Star South) 25-17, 25-14, 25-15 at home, led by Chandler Kendall’s 10 kills on 27 attack attempts and 17 assists from Katie Airey. Senior Blaire Sonderleiter was 19-for-22 with five aces and six digs on defense to help the Wolverines’ effort. She also had five kills in nine attack attempts. GMG set the tone early, hopping out to a 6-1 lead in set one. Meskwaki battled to hang with the Wolverines, but a four-point run at the end of the set gave the Wolverines the favor. Set two was the same story, a back-and-forth match that saw the Warriors lead by two early. But a 13-6-point swing halfway through got the Wolverines to a 2-0 match lead. “Setter to hitter was rough,” Bauder said. “Our timing was off. Our communication was a little bit off. I told them if you don’t swing, in these coming weeks in conference play, you’re not going to come out on top. We have to get that timing down, then a tournament Saturday to get things squared up before a big week next week.” But it was the third set that almost slipped away from GMG. Up 8-3 early, the Warriors rattled off an 8-1 run to take an 11-9 lead. But, persistence prevailed as the Wolverines went on to score six-straight points and seven out of eight to make it 16-12. “They understand I’m not going to call a timeout when things are going bad,” Bauder said. “They have to figure it out. The players play. I do my job at practice, and then I do the lineup sheet at games, and that’s pretty much it. So they know, if things are going bad, they’re going to have to figure it out, or it’s just going to keep going bad.” Bauder explained that all the credit goes to the players in a win, and wouldn’t want any of it in the end. So when the Wolverines banded together, it was all on their own halfway through the third set. Meskwaki head coach Dina Keahna said lack of experience and something she calls “volleyball knowledge” was the reason for letting the third set – and the evening – slip away. “We’ve got just one senior playing varsity since she was a freshman,” Keahna said. “I always talk about volleyball knowledge. Getting them to be able to be more fluid with that, so we’re not telling them every step of the way. That’s part of the teaching stuff we need to be doing with them. The Warriors start six sophomores regularly, and have a handful of freshmen waiting in the wings for their chance at playing. Senior Grace Tahawah, one of two starting seniors, has played varsity all four years. Tahawah was a main threat on the line, channeling a new attitude Keahna has set in front of her team this season. “One of the things they’re doing a lot better at is being more of attackers,” Keahna said. “Once they get into the front row, they become this attack mode. Over the years, we haven’t had that constancy with the height and the people we do have now.” Alyssa Lincoln, who is playing her first year of volleyball, was out Thursday with an ankle injury. Keahna said though Lincoln might have some weaker skill levels, she has the size and attitude to be one of those “attackers” up front for the Warriors. For Bauder and co., the Wolverines lived by every sense of the phrase ‘a win’s a win’ Thursday night. Despite being off at times, his team did what it needed to do to start off 1-0 in division play. “Sometimes, we get a little mental, and timing got off,” Bauder said. “We got frustrated a little bit, and we don’t talk out our problems with each other. And when that happens, we can get a little erratic. But they figured it out enough to come out on top.” The Wolverines head to Gladbrook-Reinbeck on Saturday for a tournament, while Meskwaki heads to Colo-NESCO on Tuesday for another conference matchup.