TWICE AS NICE: Advance wins second straight Class 1 state volleyball championship

Members of the Advance volleyball team hold up the MSHSAA Class 1 state championship plaque they won Saturday with a 25-11, 25-21 victory over Santa Fe at the Show Me Center.

DEXTER STATESMAN/Kyle Smith

CAPE GIRARDEAU — The Advance Hornets collapsed to the floor and celebrated the moment Saturday at the Show Me Center.

After all, the Hornets had completed a 25-11, 25-21 victory over Santa Fe to win their second straight MSHSAA Class 1 volleyball championship.

“I don’t even know how to explain it,” junior Meadow Morse said. “I was shaking and I couldn’t stop crying. It’s incredible. I can’t put it into words.”

The Hornets (38-2) didn’t a drop a set in the postseason, including a 3-0 record in pool play in the semifinal round on Friday.

Roz Schrader, one of the team’s two seniors, had mixed feelings minutes after the match ended.

“There are so many emotions,” Schrader said. “I don’t know if I should be sad because it was my last game or very excited because we won back-to-back state championships. I’m feeling everything, every emotion you can feel.”

Advance, whose other senior is Alyssa Massa, struggled to put away the Chiefs in the second set. The defending champ took a 7-3 lead, but Santa Fe didn’t go down without a fight.

“We just kind of messed around there in the second set, which we do almost every game,” Schrader said. “I don’t know why but we pulled through.”

Santa Fe (34-3-4) fought back to take a pair of leads (12-11 and 13-12).

The Hornets strung together three straight points to grab a 15-13 advantage, but Santa Fe tied the score at 16 on a block by Taylor Boothe and Allexis Lark.

Advance responded with another 3-0 run and never trailed again. Schrader recorded one of her seven kills for the go-ahead point.

The Chiefs never came closer than two points the rest of the way, but Advance couldn’t string together a match-closing run like it had in the semifinal round.

“They definitely played their hearts out that second set,” Advance coach Erin Hoffman said of the Chiefs. “Their defense was ready for what we had to give them.”

Santa Fe survived the first match point when the Hornets were called for a net violation.

However, the Hornets were on the floor celebrating one point later.

“We just kept making silly mistakes but we finally (pulled through),” Morse said.

Schrader said nerves might have played a factor down the stretch.

“I think there might have been a hint of it, not enough that we would (lose) the game or anything crazy,” she said. “It was like, ‘oh it’s over, last game together.’ ”

Hoffman said last year’s experience at state helped her team finish off Santa Fe.

“I think it helped them keep their composure,” Hoffman said. “They weren’t their usual selves but they weren’t down either. They just stayed consistent because they knew they had a goal in mind.”

The Hornets held a 27-15 edge in kills with junior Nyah Wilson leading the team with eight. Besides Schrader’s seven, junior Alyssa Miles had five, Morse had three and sophomore Alandry Below had two.

Advance only produced two more attacks (71-69) than the Chiefs, who were held to a .101 hitting percentage. Advance hit .211.

Below led the Advance offense with 24 assists.

Carrigan Smith paced the Chiefs with eight kills. Cassie Aversman’s seven assists led Santa Fe.

Both teams played excellent defense with the Hornets amassing 46 digs. Nine of their 10 players had at least three digs with Miles producing a team-high eight.

Santa Fe recorded 32 digs with Isabella Limback leading the team with nine.

“They were really good defensively,” Miles said. “It took us a lot to get the ball down but we made it happen.”

The Hornets hit .345 in the first set, while holding Santa Fe to a .031 clip.

Santa Fe took a 2-1 lead behind consecutive kills by Limback, who finished with seven.

The Hornets responded with a 5-0 run to take a 6-2 lead and followed with a 7-0 run to push their advantage to 13-5. Santa Fe never came closer than seven points the rest of the way, as the Hornets continued to pound away at the net.

Advance closed the set with a 4-0 run that Wilson sparked with a back-row kill. The team closed out the set on three straight errors by the Chiefs.

Billings won the third-place match 25-12, 25-18 over Calvary Lutheran.