Semoball

C1S2 volleyball: Advance sweeps St. Vincent, moves on to fifth straight quarterfinal

Advance players celebrate a point during the Hornets' Class 1 sectional matchup with St. Vincent on Thursday at St. Vincent High School.
Submitted photo

PERRYVILLE — Once again, the Advance Hornets have advanced to the Class 1 state quarterfinals.

The Hornets swept Class 1 District 1 champion St. Vincent 25-20, 25-14, 25-15 on Thursday at St. Vincent High School to reach their fifth-straight quarterfinal.

"I want to give props to St. Vincent," Advance coach Erin Hoffman said. "They got us out of our game a little bit and they made us make a lot of errors. But I'm proud of my girls for staying composed and continuing to fight through it, and then finding our game back."

Hoffman enjoyed seeing her team make adjustments as the game went along.

"I never like to use inexperience as an excuse, but sometimes when you're inexperienced you're so worried about doing what you're supposed to do and learning the game," Hoffman said. "This is the first game that I really saw the players adjust to what the other team was doing. Instead of just doing the basics they were taught how to do, they actually adjusted to where we could stop what they were being successful at."

The Hornets are a young team — with no seniors and just four juniors — and dealt with some growing pains early in the season. Hoffman has enjoyed seeing the team's growth throughout the season.

"At the beginning of the year we were a mess," Hoffman said. "Alandry (Below) was a great leader for us and without having any seniors we didn't really have that person to step up and take that leadership role. I think that was a big problem of ours for most of the season. But now, toward the end of it, they're all kind of stepping up as leaders. The juniors are starting to use their voice more and are helping keep everybody composed. We're starting to have a little more leadership out there on the floor."

Advance had 49 digs and 33 kills as a team, and added five service aces.

St. Vincent had some success early in the match, but Advance's adjustments gave the Indians trouble.

"The second and third sets got away from us," St. Vincent coach Darren Verseman said. "They are such a well-coached team. It's not a surprise, I've seen Erin coach for years. ... The girls were doing exactly what I asked them to do. I knew we had to be aggressive to try to get them in uncomfortable spots."

Seniors Macy Lukefahr and Kamille Graham led St. Vincent's attack in their final high school game, with Lukefahr recording eight kills and Graham adding seven. Graham added a team-high 14 assists to lead the offense and added 10 digs defensively.

Leading the Indians' defense was sophomore Allison Bierk who had 18 digs. She was followed by junior Maddie Dobbelare who matched Graham with 10 digs.

St. Vincent finished the season with a 12-18-1 record and loses four seniors in Carleigh Grim, Allie Strattman, Lukefahr and Graham.

"They have a lot of experience and they've played tons of sets this year," Verseman said of his seniors. "We relied on them heavily and without them, we're going to have to look at how we're going to fill those spots. It's going to be tough.

"After the match was over, there were a lot of tears and a lot of hugs between underclassmen and upperclassmen. They're going be missed more than just their presence on the court, their overall presence is going to be missed."

Advance (24-10) will host Class 1 District 2 champion Clarkton (31-6) in the state quarterfinals.

"I actually think that a lot of times we do better when we don't overthink," Hoffman said. "When we think too much we make too many errors, so not knowing a whole lot about them I think is a plus for us because they'll go out there and they'll play their game."

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