HVA volleyball season ends with Central loss
It included many highlights, but Hardin Valley Academy’s volleyball season came to an end last Tuesday night, Oct. 13, at Maryville High School.
Finishing second in the Region 2, District 4A Tournament the week before, the Lady Hawks lost in straight sets to Central High School, winners of the Region 2, District 3A Tournament. The set scores were 28-26, 25-17 and 25-18.
“Central is a really good team,” said HVA coach Eric Boden. “We really struggled blocking; we really struggled to pass.”
“We left some chances on the table that we wanted,” Boden said when asked about the oh-so-close first set.
The first set couldn’t have been closer. Numerous times it was tied as the momentum constantly swung back and forth. The Lady Hawks seemed to be in good shape at 21-18, but four in a row by the Lady ‘Cats put them up 22-21. Four split points later, CHS had a set point at 24-23.
But HVA won the next two to have a set point of its own, 25-24. Central tied it at 25, and it was again tied at 26. CHS then won two to close it out.
In the second set, Central used a number of scoring runs to first, build an early lead, then hold off Valley’s many attempts to fight back.
Tied at three, CHS won seven of nine to lead 10-5. HVA got it to 12-11, but Central then won five of the next seven, four of the next six and four of the final five to finish it.
In the Lady Hawks’ final set of the season, they dug a deep early hole from which they couldn’t dig out. Down five to three, HVA then surrendered eight straight to trail 13-3. A 6-2 stretch late by Valley made it 22-17, but CHS won three of the final four.
Boden was asked to assess the season. “I like where we are; we’re taking steps in the right direction,” he said. “This is my third year and each year we’ve had a better and better finish. Next year the goal is to finish even higher. And I’m really proud of my seniors (Caroline Clauss and Avery Slone).”
Clauss thought her team was overconfident against the Lady Bobcats. “They’d lost to a couple of teams we swept,” said the four-year starter. “Going into it I think we thought they should be easy to beat.”
Clauss felt this year’s team was much more united than any of her other three. “Everybody was really bonded this year,” she said. “The wins were really high, but then the lows were really low because we were so close.”
