HILLSBORO: Lady Trojans drop three at Invitational
The Trojan volleyball team had a strong beginning and a strong ending in the Hillsboro Invitational Volleyball Tournament Saturday, but the games in the middle were its downfall as the team went 0-3 and did not make it into bracket play.
Conway Springs, 28-0, took first place by defeating Minneapolis 15-2, 15-1. Ellinwood defeated Sterling 12-15, 15-11, 15-2 for third place.
Hillsboro, seeded seventh with a 6-16 record, came out strong against a 20-4 Minneapolis team, taking advantage of the Lions' poor serving to win the first game 15-6. In game two, Minneapolis jumped out to an 0-4 lead, and even though Hillsboro got back in the game, the Lions led the entire game, winning 15-12.
Minneapolis led in game three through a marathon of poor serving on both sides of the net before they were able to pull ahead for a 15-8 victory.
"We started they day very strong in the first game against Minneapolis," said coach Collette Burton. "We were playing our type of volleyball and making things happen. We lost focus in the second game and started making mental mistakes."
The Trojans served 90 percent in the match with April Funk and Alisa Prior serving 100 percent. Prior was 100 percent in serves received.
Hillsboro lost the second match to third seed (16-4 record) Marion 15-5 and 15-12. The Trojans, serving 85 percent, never led in game one but were up 12-11 in the second game before Marion took control, winning the last four points.
Sophomore Katie Fast had a good match at the net, leading the team in blocks with five and in kills with six.
Hillsboro took a game from Sterling 15-9 in the third match but lost the next games 15-17 and 12-15.
The Trojans led all of game one and by as much as 10-5 in game two. But the Black Bears wouldn't give up and proved too much for Hillsboro in game two, taking the serve at 15-15 and winning 17-15.
In game three, Hillsboro once again jumped out to an early lead, 8-3, before letting Sterling back into the game. The lead changed several times before Sterling was able to put away the Trojans.
In the match, Elise Matz and Charity Davis combined for 14 kills and 29 digs. Emily Ratzlaff, 17-17, and Danielle Goossen, 13-13, were 100 percent in serving. Fast had 11 blocks.
"The last match against Sterling was a hard fought battle," Burton said. "We worked well as a team but just could not finish the match. Missed serves really hurt us."
Burton highlighted the play of Matz and Davis, who had a combine total of 31 kills for the tournament.
"Elise and Charity had a total of 31 kills for the day, helping us out tremendously," Burton said. "Katie's blocking has improved throughout the season, and she had some key blocks for us. Emily Ratzlaff, a key to our back row play, hustles after every ball and is not afraid to get on the floor."
The Lady Trojans take a 6-19 record to the sub-state tournament Saturday at Lyons. They are seeded eighth and face No. 1 seed Lyons (25-4) at 1 p.m.
Hillsboro faces a tough bracket at sub-state, with three out of the eight teams posting more than 20 wins each.
