Star-Journbal Editor
32-1.
That's the win-loss record the Hillsboro Trojans volleyball team needs in order to advance to the Class 3A State Championship.
The Trojans (29-1) must win all three of its matches Saturday at the Class 3A Sub-State Tournament, which begins at 9 a.m. in the Hillsboro gym.
"We have to win; there's no losing," said coach Sandy Arnold, explaining the eight-team, single-elimination format.
In addition to Hillsboro, which by virtue of its record should have the No. 1 seed, other teams in the tournament include Halstead, Haven, Hesston, Hutchinson-Trinity, Lyons, Marion, with Whitewater-Remington rounding out the field.
The Trojans will play three matches, beginning against the No. 8 seed, then probably the No. 4 or No. 5 seed, en route to the championship, Arnold said.
"You have to win the final to be 32-1 to go on," she added. "Which is a nice little goal."
The Trojans enter sub-state turbo-charged after a simply dominating performance at the 13th annual Trojan Invitational on Saturday, in which they won every game en route to the tournament title.
In pool play, Hillsboro beat Marion 25-16, 25-8; Conway Springs 25-17, 25-18, and Sterling 25-15, 25-19.
In the semis, Hillsboro beat Hoisington 25-23, 25-16. And in the final, Hillsboro beat Conway Springs again, 25-21, 25-13.
Laser-guided serves, solid back row defense, and stiff blocking at the net made it possible for the team's primary weapons, Tina Frick and JuliAnne Chisholm, to lock and load.
"When those two girls are hitting, it opens some things up for other people, too," Arnold said. "Amy Neufeld and Dakota Kaufman had some key hits and key blocks for us, and the back row serve-receive was better than usual. Jenny [Whisenhunt] had a great day serving as well."
"I hope it built some confidence with the girls," Arnold added. "It's not that we don't still have room for improvement, but it was nice to see us put what we've been learning into practice."
Last week, Arnold said there were three big steps between her team and its goal of winning the state championship.
Winning the Trojan Invitational was step one; winning sub-state is step two, and, well, without taking step two there'll be no step three, so Arnold isn't looking ahead to the state championship, which will be held Oct. 27-28 in Salina.
"Athletically, I'm concerned about one team [Hutchinson-Trinity], but mentally I'm concerned about all three matches," Arnold said of Saturday's foes. "But you can never overlook anybody at this time of the year."
Even so, Arnold admits that the Hillsboro home crowd gives her team a golden opportunity to be 32-1 at the end of the day.
"We're just going to have to make sure we're ready to go in all aspects of the game," she said.
