Lone Advance VB senior leaves indelible mark

Advance High School senior outside hitter Addi Carlton awaits the next play during the MSHSAA Class 1 State Semifinal match against Santa Fe recently at the Show Me Center.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

It will be a strange scene next August when the Advance High School volleyball team takes the court and Addi Carlton isn’t anywhere to be seen.

The athletic Hornet recently wrapped up an incredibly storied career in a sport that isn’t even her top activity.

Carlton excels on the mound in softball in the spring, but her feats on the volleyball court will be remembered for some time.

Carlton, who was the lone senior for Advance, was impactful all over the court this fall. She led her team in kills (428), as well as was second (by a mere 13) in digs (422).

“She can be very quick,” veteran Advance coach Erin Hoffman said of Carlton’s defense during this season. “Her form isn’t necessarily the best, but she can be very quick.”

Carlton was just as successful leaping and hitting as she was diving.

In the Hornets’ final game, a three-set loss to Winona in the MSHSAA Class 1 State Final, Hoffman never lost confidence in her senior outside hitter.

“All I know,” Hoffman explained, “at the end of the game, I kept saying ‘Give it to Addi.’ If she would miss a hit or whatever, I told her to just keep swinging.”

In the two Final Four matches, Carlton closed her career with 32 kills.

From a team perspective, what Carlton was a part of sounds a touch fictional.

She competed for three state championships, winning two, as well as winning four District titles and four Sectionals.

Carlton was part of 105 victories in four seasons.

“This year, (I thought we) were going to have to fight a lot harder to get where they wanted to go. It was going to have to be more of a total team effort,” Hoffman said of returning to the State Finals. “With so many questions like that, it feels really, really good to make it back.”