Young Advance VB squad in search of 'leadership' this fall

Advance freshman setter Kyndall Hitt awaits the volleyball during a practice session on Tuesday at Advance High School in Advance.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

ADVANCE – The Advance High School volleyball program lost more games last year (13) than it had in the previous four seasons combined (12), however, 2021 certainly could not fall under the description of disappointment.

The Hornets won 20 matches, including an MSHSAA Class 1 District 3 and Sectional title, before falling to state runner-up Gideon in the Quarterfinal.

“Last year,” veteran Hornet coach Erin Hoffman explained following Tuesday’s practice, “we really only had six players.”

Advance had no juniors last year and only one senior, though that senior was athletic standout Alandry Below, who is now playing volleyball at Mineral Area College. The majority of Hoffman’s group was comprised of freshmen and sophomores a year ago, each of whom gained experience in fighting the shadow of representing a program that had won three consecutive MSHSAA Class 1 state championships.

“All of my (now) juniors and sophomores played,” Hoffman said. “They had to play, mostly because I didn’t have the numbers.”

Those youngsters form the core of this year’s squad, which will also include “nine or 10 freshmen,” according to Hoffman, which leads to the biggest question surrounding the Hornets, which is “leadership.”

“We lost Alandry,” Hoffman said, “who was a very good leader. We don’t have any seniors, so my juniors have to figure out how to become leaders really quick.”

Those juniors consist of Abby Kennedy, Lexi Hoffman, Kaylee Cline, and Meg Garner, while Addi Carlton is a sophomore this season.

Lexi Hoffman is the lone returning Hornet that earned Stoddard County Athletic Association honors in 2021.

Lexi played middle hitter last year, as Below handled the setter duties. However, this year, she will be “setting back row and hitting middle front,” according to her mother.

“That is going to be one of our biggest struggles,” Hoffman said, “is finding that leadership, that person that gets the intensity out of everybody, and gets the competitiveness out of everybody.”

From 2018 through 2020, the Hornets won 105 matches and the aforementioned MSHSAA championships. Hoffman’s teams beat schools from all over and from all classes.

Hoffman said she doesn’t think beating Advance brings added motivation for other volleyball programs, but it’s fine if it does.

“I might be unusual,” Hoffman said, “but I really like pressure. I wouldn’t mind if there were a target on our back. I’m not saying there is, people know that we lost Alandry, who was a very good player, and they know that we’re very young, so, I don’t know this year, necessarily, that we are going to have a target on our back. But, if we do, then we welcome it.”

The Hornets open the 2022 season on Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. at Bernie.