As improbable as it seemed at the start of the season, Hills?boro?s young volleyball team came of age Saturday and earned a trip to the Class 3A state volleyball tournament by winning the sub-state tournament at Council Grove.
With only two seniors on the roster?Allie Faul and Hayley Jirak?and led by sophomore hitter Tena Loewen, the Trojans, seeded No. 2 coming in, claimed the sub-state title with a 25-15, 22-25, 25-14 win over No. 1 seeded Burlington.
?God is good,? coach Sandy Arnold said with a smile. ?He allowed my team to show up at the right time. They just kind of put things together?passing, setting, hitting, defense.?
It was no easy path for Hills?boro, though, with all three of its matches going the maximum three games. Hillsboro opened with a 25-15, 21-25, 25-20 victory over the host school, then defeated Southeast of Saline in the semifinals, 25-18, 21-25, 25-19.
Burlington, who finished the season with a 31-8 record, got to the finals by defeating Sterling in three games and Marion in two. Marion defeated Lyons in its opening round.
Surprisingly, Hillsboro dominated Burling?ton in Game 1, building the lead to nine points at 20-11, then maintaining that spread to the end.
Game 2 looked to be a repeat as the Trojans led by as many as eight points at 12-4. But Burling?ton climbed back into contention with a 5-0 run and took the lead for the first time at 16-15 before winning by four.
In the rubber match, Hills?boro jumped to a 4-0 lead, but Burlington kept it close until 16-13. At that point, Hillsboro kicked up its game one more notch and built its lead to the game- and match-ending margin of 11 points. Tena Loewen had nine kills in Game 3 alone.
?I thought Tena had an excellent day,? Arnold said. ?She hit the ball a couple of times harder than I?ve ever seen it hit. That was fun to see.?
Hillsboro was coming off double losses at Sedgwick four days earlier, including a particularly poor performance against Hutch Trinity, who competed at Council Grove. Arnold called that match the low-point of the season.
?Maybe it was a wake-up call, I really don?t know,? Arnold said of her team?s marked improvement Saturday. ?We worked on fundamentals a ton from Wednesday until Friday. I thought those things helped tremendously.
?I thought our blocking was much better,? she added. ?We didn?t always block everything back, but we touched the ball enough to help our defense get to the ball better.
?I also thought, other than the Council Grove match, that our serving was pretty good, especially against Burlington,? she said. ?I thought we took them out of their game with our serves. They were frustrated.
?I?m very pleased with our girls and what they did because we weren?t playing very well the last part of the season.?
Arnold will be taking her fifth team to state in seven seasons as HHS coach. It never gets old, she said.
?At the beginning of the year, I?would have never thought this,? Arnold said of the berth. ?I didn?t know what to expect?I didn?t know if we?d be .500,? Arnold said.
?I think this year was just as exciting because we weren?t supposed to do it. But all the girls stepped up, in their role,? she added. ?I don?t know that we?re the best 3A team out there, but we took advantage of an opportunity (at sub-state). I?m happy that they did that.?
Coming?Hillsboro will take a 30-10 season record into the Class 3A state tournament at the Bicentennial Center in Salina Friday afternoon.
The Trojans have been assigned to a pool that includes Cherokee-Southeast (29-11) at 3:30 p.m., Atchison County (38-3) at 5:30 p.m. and Osage City (38-2) at 6:30 p.m.
The other pool includes Phillipsburg (38-1), Eureka (33-6), Garden Plain (33-7) and Goodland (28-11).
?We don?t have anything to lose this weekend,? coach Sandy Arnold said. ?We just have to go in and play and be confident and not be afraid of anybody.