HILLSBORO: Lady Trojans bow out at sub-state
Hillsboro loses
to Lyons in two
The high school volleyball season ended in the first round of sub-state last Saturday at Lyons with 1-15 and 6-15 losses to Lyons.
Even though the team ended its season with a record of 6-20, the Trojans continually improved throughout the year. The 2002 season was a good learning experience for the underclassmen players who should be better prepared for next year.
"We really struggled getting started on Saturday," said coach Collette Burton. "We just lacked the intensity, at times, needed to finish a match. Mentally our game was not ready."
Junior Alisa Prior led the team in serves, going 5-5, and serves received with 9-7. Prior also had three digs. Senior Elise Matz was 5-4 in serving and 6-5 in serves received. Matz also had one kill, four hits, and five digs. Senior April Funk led the team in sets with 18 and four assists and in digs with six.
Junior Katie Fast had three blocks, four hits, and two kills. Sophomores Emily Ratzlaff and Amy Duerksen were both 100 percent in serving, 5-5 and 4-4 respectively. Duerksen also was 9-7 in serves received. Senior Alisa Jost had four hits and one block. Senior Adrien Bebermeyer was 6-6 serving, 6-4 serves received, and had one dig. Sophomore Charity Davis did not play because of illness.
"No matter what happened, I wanted the girls to leave sub-state knowing they gave it everything they had," Burton said.
The season was a series of ups and downs for the struggling Trojans. They had to adjust to playing rally point best-out-of-five matches in league competition and side-out best out of three in tournament play.
"I believe that our team was stronger in the traditional method of scoring," Burton said. "I like the rally scoring format, but I did not like the three-out- of-five games. The team seemed to prefer traditional scoring."
The Lady Trojans will lose five players to graduation and retain seven experienced varsity players.
