Advance volleyball clinches spot in Class 1 state championship match, to face Santa Fe

Advance's Meadow Morse (17) hits over Calvary Lutheran's Julia Kollmeyer during the first set in the second round of semifinal pool play in the Class 1 state volleyball tournament Friday at Cape Girardeau.

DEXTER STATESMAN/Kyle Smith

CAPE GIRARDEAU — The defending state champion Advance Hornets saved their best for last Friday in the MSHSAA Class 1 Volleyball Championships.

The Hornets swept Billings 25-8, 25-11 to complete semifinal pool play with a 6-0 record. They had already clinched a spot in the title match, which is set for 1:30 p.m. Saturday, with a 25-18, 25-11 sweep of Calvary Lutheran earlier in the day.

“It’s unreal,” junior Nyah Wilson said of Advance’s second straight trip to the state championship match. “When I was in junior high, I never thought I’d be going to state. (So to do it) two years in a row, it’s unreal.”

After losing 25-14, 25-22 to Advance (37-2) in the first round of pool play, Santa Fe (34-2-4) went 3-1 to finish second in the standings and earn a spot in the title match. Santa Fe swept Calvary Lutheran 25-10, 25-13 after splitting a pair of sets against Billings. Billings won the first set 25-22 and lost the second 25-18.

Santa Fe finished 3-3 in pool play, Billings (22-6-4) finished 2-4, and Calvary Lutheran (23-8-4) finished 1-5. Billings will face Calvary Lutheran for third place at noon Saturday.

“Of course, it feels great,” Advance coach Erin Hoffman said of returning to the championship match, “especially because we kind of had a rough day. We didn’t play real well this morning, but we ended the day on a great note. They found themselves again.”

Advance took charge early against Billings, scoring 12 of the opening set’s first 14 points.

Roz Schrader had two kills and three block assists during the rally. Alyssa Miles had two kills and two block assists, and Alandry Below and Alyssa Massa each served an ace.

Miles and Schrader finished with nine kills each. Miles hit .350 and Schrader .294.

The Wildcats climbed as close as 12 points (18-6), but Advance finished the set with a 7-2 run. Nyah Wilson had three of her five kills during the rally, Danielle Markham served an ace and Schrader ended the set with a kill.

Wilson had a strong overall performance Friday, accumulating 22 kills and 18 digs in three matches.

“I think we have so many hard-hitters that sometimes Nyah is overlooked and then here she comes,” Hoffman said. “She just gets kill after kill after kill. I love that because they’re not looking for her and she comes in and does some damage. She’s also our best passer and for some reasons, teams like to serve to her.”

The second set was much closer, although Advance never trailed. Billings tied the score five times early before the Hornets closed out the set with a 13-1 run. Schrader had five kills and one block assist.

Miles had three kills and one block assist, and Below and Massa served one ace apiece.

“We run a quick offense with our middles. It’s hard to run that if you don’t have good passes,” Hoffman said. “Our passing came to life so we were able to get it to Roz.”

Below paced the Hornets with 27 assists, and Schrader led them with nine digs.

Bailey Groves and Morgan Heimer led Billings with four kills each. Bailie Williams had nine assists and Groves finished with eight digs.

Championship preview

The Santa Fe Chiefs jumped ahead of Advance 3-1 in the second set and led 10-6 before Hoffman called a timeout.

“It was a little stressful for us,” Wilson said of the tight battles. “We were digging holes for ourselves, but we pulled out of it with our friendship. We’re like a family. We come together when it gets hard.”

Advance responded with a 5-0 run to take its first lead of the set (11-10). Schrader, who paced Advance with 10 kills and two blocks, scored the final three points on a block and two kills.

Santa Fe bounced back to take three three-point leads (15-12, 16-13 and 18-15) before the Hornets made a final run to win the set.

“We learned a lot about ourselves,” Hoffman said. “That was probably our worst game of the day.”

The Hornets closed the set with a 9-4 run that included three kills by Wilson, two by Schrader and one each by Below and Miles, whose kill ended the set.

Below finished with three kills in nine attempts and led the Hornets with 26 assists.

The Chiefs kept Advance from running its offense for parts of the set behind strong back-row defense and a solid block, that only produced four points but kept balls alive against the hard-hitting Hornets.

“They’re scrappy and smart,” Schrader said of the Chiefs. “They get all these crazy balls up and then tip them in places we weren’t.”

Advance scored four of the first five points in the opening set, but the Chiefs remained within striking distance early.

“Our passing is usually a lot better,” Hoffman said. “When you have good passing, your opportunities are unlimited. We struggled getting balls to our hitters.”

The Hornets took control with a 6-0 run to take a 19-7 lead. Miles had a pair of kills during the rally and Schrader had a kill and a block assist.

Santa Fe never came came closer than 10 points the rest of the way with Wilson ending the set with a kill on a free ball. Wilson finished with nine kills and two block assists.

Meadow Morse led the Hornets with 10 digs, and Wilson had eight.

Carrigan Smith paced Santa Fe with 11 kills. Cassie Aversman had a team-high eight assists. Isabella Limback and Madalyn Schuette led the Chiefs with 12 and 10 digs, respectively.

2018 rematch

In a rematch of last year’s championship match, the Hornets trailed Calvary Lutheran only briefly (1-0) but couldn’t put the Jefferson City school away until late in the first set.

Advance answered with a 6-1 run to take a 6-2 lead. Below had two service aces during the rally. Besides her two aces, she had a match-best 19 assists.

The Lions cut their deficit to one point three times (13-12, 14-13, 17-16) before Advance closed the game on an 8-2 run that included a pair of kills by Wilson, a kill and a block assist by Schrader, an ace by Markham and a kill by Miles to end the set.

Wilson finished with a match-best eight kills, while hitting .353, Miles had five, and Morse and Schrader had four each.

The Hornets took control of the second set with an 11-0 run that gave them a commanding 16-6 lead. Wilson produced two kills, one block and two block assists during the stretch. Schrader served an ace, and Morse and Miles added one kill apiece.

Calvary Lutheran sliced its deficit to 16-9 with a 4-0 run that featured two kills by Sarah Johnson. However, the Hornets scored nine of the set’s final 11 points.

Morse had two kills, Wilson had one kill, and Massa and Markham each served aces. The set ended on an errant serve into the net by the Lions.

Morse and Schrader led the Hornets with six digs each.

Calvary Lutheran’s Jaelyn Engelbrecht produced a match-best 11 digs, and Julia Kollmeyer led the Lions with 13 assists.