HAYFIELD —With almost an entire new lineup from last year, the Hayfield volleyball team is still trying to find its footing.

The Vikings showed signs of being on track and they also showed they still have some work to do as they dropped their last home regular season game to Pine Island (9-13 overall) by scores of 25-23, 18-25, 25-17, 25-19 in Hayfield Monday.

Hayfield (9-12 overall) led 20-11 in the first game and that lead slowly dwindled away and it also pulled to as close as 21-18 in the final game after trailing by seven.

Hayfield junior libero Cela Carney, who had 24 digs Monday, is the main holdover from last year’s team that went all the way to the Section 1A West title game and she said the Vikings have had to take a new approach this season.

“It’s definitely been a learning curve for us,” Carney said. “We’re not winning as many games, but we’re learning together. It’s been new and different, but I think it’s working OK. We’re building every day.”

Sophomore Jenna Jacobsen hammered home 14 kills for Hayfield in the loss and Elecia Brown added nine kills.

Most of Hayfield’s contributors were playing on JV last season and Hayfield head coach Jeremy Struck said he’s still working on getting the team to attack the net on a regular basis.

“I don’t know if I’ve found a balance yet,” Struck said. “We’re trying to teach them to  be aggressive and not be scared of big hitters. We don’t have to defend the entire night, we just need to play hard and play our game. We can play with some good teams, but we’ve got to play our style.”

Hayfield will close out its regular season this week as it plays at Faribault Bethlehem Academy Tuesday and it competes in the Rochester tournament Friday and Saturday.

Hayfield stats: Jenna Jacobsen, 14 kills, 16 digs, 1 block; Elecia Brown, 9 kills, 19 digs; Abby Stasko, 7 kills, 4 digs, 1 assist, 2 blocks; Maryx Young, 37 assists, 5 kills, 1 ace; Taylor Burt, 3 aces, 1 kill; Carly Hauschild, 3 kills, 14 digs; Cela Carney, 24 digs