BY JESSALYN KIRCHHOFF
Many activities or events this year have been modified to fit COVID needs and the Kansas High School Class 2A State Volleyball Tournament was no exception. This year the tournament was broken up into two vital days in order to achieve social distancing guidelines.
On the first day (Tuesday, October 27), eight teams played to advance to Dodge City for the semifinal matchups. Smith Center, Hillsboro, Wabaunsee and Heritage Christian advanced Tuesday night to play on Friday.
Friday’s championship game between Smith Center and Heritage Christian was a battle of who could hit the hardest, who had the strongest blocks, who had the better variation of attacks, and finally, which team displayed the best defensive tactics.
Heritage Chrsitian had some of the strongest hits, Smith Center had the better blocks, both teams attacked every play, and overall Heritage Christian covered the floor better than Smith Center, eventually winning 2-0 (25-21, 25-14).
“It was our defense that won us the game. We played excellent today,” Heritage Christian head coach Tom Slaughter said. “We couldn’t have done better.”
Both HC and SC were incredibly young with over half of the six starters as freshmen. Heritage Christian only had two seniors and Smith Center had zero. With both teams being so young, there is a good chance both teams will return to the state tournament next season.
As in any championship games, there were star players for both teams. Notable players for Smith Center include juniors Tallon Rentschler and Ashlyn Long, and freshmen Tinley Rentschler, Dakoa Kattenberg, Gracie Kirchhoff and Camryn Hutchinson. With no seniors on the varsity roster this year, this young team captured a runnerup state title with an impressive season of (32-6).
Smith Center played a great game in the championship and had a similar makeup of players as Heritage Christian, who prevailed in the last game of the season. HC had strong hitters with notable freshmen Cy Rae Campbell, Caelyn Ferguson and Rachel Van Gorp. Other players from Heritage Christian that need to be recognized are junior libero Jessamyn Rose and freshman defense specialist Lauren Jacobs.
Once the final four teams arrived at the Dodge City-United Wireless Arena the matchups within pool play were as follows. On Court A, Smith Center vs. Hillsboro (25- 18; 25-21) at 10:45 AM followed by Heritage Christian vs. Hillsboro (25-16; 25-21) at 11:45 AM and finally Hillsboro vs. Wabaunsee (25-18; 25-7) at 12:45 PM. On Court B, Heritage Christian vs. Wabaunsee (25-20; 25-15) at 10:45 AM followed by Smith Center vs. Wabaunsee (25-23; 25-8) at 11:45 AM and finally Heritage Christian vs. Smith Center (25-23; 21-25; 25-21) at 12:45 PM. Heritage Christian and Smith Center were both pools’ favorites having both defeated the other opponents at the tournament. It should also be noted that this was the only game that went into three sets the entire day.
The results of the pool play games lead to the matchups for the semifinal games. On Court A Smith Center (two seed) vs. Hillsboro (three seed) (25-22; 25-19) and on Court B Heritage Christian (one seed) vs. Wabaunsee (four seed) (25-9; 25-11).
After the semifinal games had concluded, the Consolation and Finals matches were played. On Court B Wabaunsee beat Hillsboro in two sets (25-22; 25-23). Wabaunsee and Hillsboro both are two teams that are used to the state tournament with both making multiple appearances in the last twenty years.
