Semoball

Defending Class 1 state champion Advance sweeps competition en route to another final four in volleyball

From left, Advance's Alyssa Miles, Roz Schrader, Nyah Wilson and Alandry Below celebrate after the Hornets beat Holcomb on Saturday at Bloomfield High School to advance to the team's second straight Class 1 final four.
DEXTER STATESMAN/Kyle Smith

BLOOMFIELD — The Advance volleyball team put the pedal to the metal after a slow start and raced into the Class 1 final four.

Advance beat Holcomb 25-10, 25-4 in a Class 1 quarterfinal Saturday at Bloomfield High School.

Advance never trailed but had trouble shaking the District 1 champion through much of the first set. Holcomb trailed by only four points (12-8) midway through the set and seven (17-10) before the defending state champion took control.

Advance (34-2) will join Santa Fe (33-1-3), Billings (22-5-2) and Calvary Lutheran (23-6-3) in the state semifinals on Friday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

“Awesome. It’s great,” senior Roz Schrader said of returning to the final four. “Get a repeat. Do the same as last year. It’s a great feeling.”

Advance won the District 3 championship with a 25-10, 25-4 win over Zalma in the semifinals and a 25-11, 25-20 win over Leopold in the title match. Advance received a first-round bye as the top seed.

Advance defeated Bloomfield 25-12, 25-2 in the sectional round earlier Saturday, setting up the matchup against Holcomb.

“Once district starts, every step is anybody’s game,” Advance coach Erin Hoffman said. “I’m very proud of the way my girls played today.”

Holcomb (18-13-2) beat Crystal City (13-14-1) 27-25, 25-21 in the other sectional playoff.

Advance started slow in the first set against Bloomfield, too.

“The beginning of both first sets, we were trying to get a feel for the other team, a feel for the gym,” Hoffman said. “Once we figured out the team, we really started to play.”

In the quarterfinal, the District 3 champion dominated at the net, as usual. Advance held a 26-4 advantage in kills.

Advance’s Alyssa Miles and Schrader had 10 kills each.

Bailey Cupples, Abby Hellebusch and Adrianna McClendon had one kill each for Holcomb, who didn’t produce a kill in the second set.

“My middles did a really good job of pulling the block tonight, so my outsides were wide open and were able to hit the ball,” Hoffman said.

Miles did almost all of her damage from the outside, and Schrader, who plays the middle, ranged to her right for a number of spikes.

With Schrader at the service line, Advance closed the first set with a 9-0 run. She started the rally with a kill and kept Holcomb off balance with her serve. She produced two aces during the rally.

“She’s been working on tweaking it a little bit,” Hoffman said of Schrader’s serve, “trying the other corner and doing her hand a little bit differently. Today it worked.”

Advance closed the set with consecutive kills by Nyah Wilson, Miles and Alandry Below.

Advance used runs of 11-0 and 6-0 to take control of the second set. Schrader opened the 11-0 rally with back-to-back kills, Meadow Morse served two aces and Miles added three kills and block to extend their team’s lead to 15-2.

After a side-out by Holcomb, the serving of Below sparked the 6-0 run. She served two aces and Schrader had two more kills.

Following another side-out by Holcomb, Advance closed the match with a 3-0 rally that included back-to-back kills by Wilson to end the match.

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