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Advance shows chink in armor in title match but keeps state-title run alive with third-straight championship
Members of the Advance volleyball team celebrate with the trophy they won after capturing their third straight MSHSAA Class 1 state championship Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.
DEXTER STATESMAN/Kyle Smith
CAPE GIRARDEAU — One streak ended for the Advance volleyball team Saturday at the Show Me Center.
However, the Hornets’ most important run of success continued, as they beat Lesterville 25-13, 25-15, 18-25, 25-8 to win their third-straight MSHSAA Class 1 state volleyball championship.
“It feels great,” senior Alyssa Miles said of the Hornets’ feat. “Our team is really special. When you have a good team like that and good coaches … it just feels really good to accomplish these things.”
The Hornets dropped a set to a Class 1 squad for the first time since this year’s group of seniors were sophomores. Lesterville won a set against Advance on Sept. 29, 2018, during the Perryville tournament. However, the Hornets bounced back to win that match and the tournament.
Advance had gone 44 straight matches against Class 1 competition without losing a set.
Advance (35-1-2) led only briefly in the third set, scoring the first two points on a kill by Miles and a block by senior Nyah Wilson. However, Lesterville stormed back with a 7-1 run to take a 7-3 lead. Mallory Polk had five kills during the rally, including one for the go-ahead point.
“Lesterville, they have two really good players — (Reese Gray and Polk),” Wilson said. “They can clobber the ball. They can tip and roll shot and mix it up everywhere. They’re good passers, too. That was one of the tougher games we had (this season).”
The Bearcats extended their lead to as many as seven (12-5) before Advance fought back.
Advance cut the lead to two points (17-15) on three straight kills, including two by Miles.
However, Lesterville scored six of the next seven points to take a 23-16 lead and closed out the set on one of eight third-set errors committed by the Hornets.
“Everybody had a little rough spot in the third set,” senior Meadow Morse said. “We had to come out and do it in the fourth set.”
Advance coach Erin Hoffman couldn’t explain what happened to her team in the third set.
“Lesterville picked up its game, was able to find some of our holes,” Hoffman said. “Then the fourth set, we were like ‘um, well. That last set shouldn’t have happened, and here we come.’ ”
Advance hit only .159 in the third set, while Lesterville hit .293.
“After that third set, we were like we’re not going to let this happen to us,” Wilson said. “We just came back with so much energy. That’s what we needed. We needed that energy. We just wanted to be on top. We wanted to attack.”
The Hornets hit a robust .708 in the fourth set and didn’t commit a hitting error, while Lesterville finished with a .000 attack percentage, which included five errors.
Advance opened the final set with a 5-0 rally behind three kills by Wilson, who finished with a match-best 23. The Bearcats came no closer than four points the rest of the way.
Advance closed out the match on a 10-2 run with Wilson scoring the match-winner with a kill.
The Bearcats struck first in the opening set when Reese Gray served an ace, but Advance scored three consecutive points to go ahead to stay.
Advance pieced together an 11-3 run to build an 11-4 advantage. Wilson had three kills and Lesterville committed three errors during that stretch.
The Bearcats trimmed the lead to four points twice (12-8 and 13-9) before Advance answered with an 8-1 rally to take a 21-10 lead. Four different Advance players recorded a kill and Mikayla Mikels served an ace.
Advance took the first set with a 4-1 run.
Lesterville gained the early advantage in the second set, building a lead as large as four points (9-5 on a service ace by
Gray) before the Hornets took their first lead of the set (13-12) on a kill on a free ball by Jadeyn Metcalf.
The scored was tied twice more (13-all and 14-all) before the Hornets closed the set with an 11-1 run. They scored 10 straight including four kills by Morse and three by Metcalf.
“Just put the ball down,” Morse said of her thought process during the rally. “If there’s a hole, put it there. We’ve got to finish it. Get it done as soon as possible.”
After Lesterville survived a set point on a hitting error by the Hornets, Metcalf clinched the win with one of her seven kills.
Advance nearly doubled the Bearcats’ output of kills with 63. Besides Wilson’s 23, Miles had 15 and Morse had 13.
“All of the hitters today, they just clobbered the ball,” Wilson said. “They were smart. They tipped and roll shot and I loved it. It was so fun.”
Advance finished with a .396 attack percentage.
The Bearcats amassed 36 kills, including 16 by Gray and 15 by Polk.
Alandry Below provided 50 assists on Advance’s 63 kills, and Gracie Hicks paced Lesterville with 29 assists.
Lesterville finished with a .135 attack percentage thanks to a solid defensive outing by the Hornets. Advance finished with six blocks — including two apiece by Chloe LaRue and Wilson — and 83 digs, featuring 22 by Miles, 17 by Wilson and 13 by Below.
Gray led Lesterville with 19 digs and Polk had 14.
Lesterville finished the season with a 25-11-2 record.