Four wins bumps HHS to 12-1 start

Hillsboro opened its home-court season Thursday with solid wins over Council Grove and Herington, a pair of league mates from the old Cotton?wood Valley League days, but without a lot of recent history against the Trojans.

Hillsboro first throttled the Braves 25-11, 25-15, then came back in similar fashion against the Railers, 25-12, 25-19, to improve to 12-1 for the season.

?I was pretty happy with the way they played Hillsboro volleyball, which is sometimes hard to do when you don?t know what a team is bringing in,? coach Sandy Arnold said of her girls. ?We got to where we could try some new things and experiment. That?s always good.

?I thought we were aggressive for the most part and did a good job of being enthusiastic. I?m sure a lot of that had to do with playing at home for the first time.?

Over the course of the evening, the Trojans took advantage of comfortable leads to work on aggressive serve styles.

Callie Serene is the latest starter to opt for the jump serve in competition.

?We tried it Tuesday night (at Douglass) and she had a lot of success,? Arnold said. ?Now, four of my six starters are doing at least a jump float.?

Thursday, Arnold challenged some of her players to work on their top-spin serves, too.

?I didn?t want it to look like I was trying to run up the score, but if we don?t try it in a game that is semi-comfortable for us, then we can?t do it in a pressure situation. They did great.?

Douglass?The best take from last Tuesday?s outing is knowing the Trojans can win even when they?re not on top of their game.

The Trojans swept both of its matches, defeating Douglass 25-23, 25-25, and Hesston 25-22, 25-13 but not in impressive style.

?That was probably our most sub-par performance of the year so far,? coach Sandy Arnold said. ?I was a little disappointed in that?and the girls were, too.

?Our passing wasn?t not nearly as good, and when you don?t pass well then other things don?t work as well.

?We just weren?t quite ourselves, but I guess if you can win ugly it?s better than losing.?

Coming?Hillsboro was schedule to be back at home Tuesday to take on Cheney, ranked No. 3 in Class 4A, and Haven, which will the Trojans? first league match of the season.

?We need to go in with confidence and belief we can do it,? coach Sandy Arnold said about the matchup.? I?m looking forward to see how they will respond to that.?

More from Hillsboro Free Press
Trojans soaked by Vikings
Ishmael Morris lets his convoy of blockers? open a pathway to first-down...
Read More