Husky volleyball takes silver at Keota tourney

Last year, the 4-23 Highland volleyball team never won back-to-back matches.

This year, they did it in their first two.

The Huskies went 2-1 and finished second place in Monday’s Keota volleyball tournament, taking 2-1 victories over English Valleys (21-16, 16-21, 15-12) and Hillcrest Academy (21-18, 15-21, 15-8) before falling to the hosting Eagles in the title match 2-0 (21-10, 21-18).

Hillcrest went 1-2 in the tournament, losing 2-1 to Highland and EV (13-21, 21-18, 15-10) before defeating Pekin in the fifth-place game 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 15-9).

Huskies start strong

Both Highland and Hillcrest opened the year matched up against an English Valleys roster consisting of Ava Gehrking, among the top 25 returning kills leaders in the class, Olivia Debevec, club teammate of Mid-Prairie junior and Iowa State commit Jeorgia Evans on a national quarterfinalist Iowa United squad, and Joslyn Bender, a top-25 kill-getter among sophomores last season.

Despite the high level of competition on the other side of the net and a considerable height disadvantage, though, the Husky block was dominant in its season opener against the Bears.

Senior Alexa Hahn, who missed last week’s IGHSAU officials’ scrimmage at WACO with an injury, stuffed the Bear hitters with a solo block in the first set, beginning a run of physicality at the net that forced the talented Bears’ front row to resort to tips rather than spikes throughout the second and third sets.

“I could see she was so excited, and I loved that for her,” Highland co-head coach Kelsey Black said of Hahn following the block. “She’s a big part of this team, so the fact that she got that in the beginning of the game really set the tone.”

Highland took advantage of EV’s hesitancy in the third to build a ten-point service run with junior Kamryn Fink at the line, keeping balls off the floor and establishing an insurmountable lead early in the final set.

“I was getting so excited, I didn’t even realize how long it was,” Fink said of the run. “I was trying to stay as calm as possible, because I know, as a person, I have to stay calm to keep my team calm as well.”

In the second match of the day against Hillcrest, the Huskies started slow, taking an early timeout and falling behind by as many as five. Highland kicked things into gear midway through the first set, though, rallying back to win the first set 21-18. That comeback proved decisive, allowing the Huskies to drop the second set before once again sparking a dominant run early in the third. This time, a 5-0 Highland run gave the Huskies the initial edge, allowing them to run away to a 15-8 victory and win their pool to advance to the title game against Keota.

Keota ran away with the first set, but the Huskies fought back in the second, keeping the set close throughout. All night, though, Highland had an Achilles’ heel, one which did them in during the championship game: free balls.

Throughout the tournament, the Huskies struggled with free balls, allowing several in each match to freely fall to the ground and rarely getting clean attacks off of what should be guaranteed in-system opportunities. According to Black, the Huskies’ new defensive system has shifted responsibilities on those free balls, and she expects more familiarity with the system will clean up these lapses.

“They’re adjusting to how they need to move when the free balls come over,” Black said. “That’s what we’ll work on this week for sure. We’ll be making those adjustments as we’re going, hopefully they pick it up.”

A series of mishandled free balls on three out of four points down the stretch gave Keota the gap it needed to earn a 21-18 victory.

The loss marked another loss to the Eagles for a core of athletes that has faced Keota time and time again in recent years, including season-opening and season-ending losses for last year’s 20-4 girls’ basketball team. With a full best-of-five rematch slated for Highland’s gym on Thursday, the Huskies are hungry to get one back on the Eagles.

“I want to beat them so bad, especially on our home turf,” Fink said. “That win would mean so much to us.”

Despite the championship loss, though, Fink was optimistic following the tournament, excited for the year to come after a strong day one.

“We have way more confidence in ourselves going into our games this year,” Fink said. “We already have half the wins we had from last year, and that’s a great building block for us to go up from.”

Young Ravens hang on for first win

Hillcrest Academy started strong in all three matches in Keota on Monday night, but the Ravens struggled to close out matches, letting winnable sets slip through their fingers in both of the first two matches before hanging on for a gritty victory over the Pekin Panthers in the nightcap.

After cruising to a set one win, Hillcrest had an opportunity to close out the sweep over English Valleys, leading 18-17 in the second set, but the Ravens surrendered a late run to allow the Bears to steal game two.

Hillcrest kept it close early in the third set, keeping the game within one as late as 8-7 following a Ruth Witthoft ace, but the Bears’ experience won out, taking seven of the last 10 points to finish out the match.

It was a similar story in match two against Highland, where the Ravens forced two early Husky timeouts before letting the first set slip away on a late Highland run.

The Ravens once again had a set where they comfortably put their opponents away, winning the second set by six points, but gave up a 5-0 run in the third to lose the match.

Finally against Pekin, the Ravens pulled through.

The Panthers and Ravens split a pair of 21-19 sets, sending the Ravens to their third straight three-set match. This time, it was Hillcrest that pulled away down the stretch, taking a 15-9 third-set win to claim their first victory of the year.

“I thought it was critical for us to pull out a win tonight,” head coach Tanna Boshart said. “Every match we played went to three sets, [and there were] things that I thought we could control. I felt like we fought all the way to the end in those sets, too, but it was better to see us come out with a little bit more energy and a little bit better execution.”