WARNER – When two of the top four-rated teams in the state square off in a region match, the atmosphere and quality of play resemble a state tournament.
Under that setting, third-rated Warner defeated fourth-rated Hitchcock-Tulare 25-19, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21 in Region 1B volleyball action in front a packed and loud Warner gym in a rematch of last year’s semifinal at the State B tourney.
“It was crazy, but it was really fun,” said Warner Libero Keira Steger, “because the rowdy crowdy really brought the energy and all the fans that came to support, so it was really fun.”
The opening set was tied at each of the first seven points to help set the tone for the evening.
Warner eventually opened a 17-10 advantage and stayed in control to win the first set.
“We felt like we needed to come out strong on that,” said Warner coach Kari Jung, “because they’re so senior heavy, that we were afraid that their big hitters would just gain confidence. We felt like we needed set one.”
The second set was tight before the Patriots opened a six-point advantage and then held on for a two-point victory.
The match began to turn in the third set as Warner found a way around Hitchcock-Tulare’s block.
“It was hard to string together points. Early on I thought they were hitting the ball extremely well,” said Patriots coach Jordan Opp. “We kind of got our blocks set on them, then all of a sudden they started tipping on us. They had us scrambling. They had us out of system.”
Not only that, but Warner’s defense got stronger as the evening wore on and points became more difficult to come by for Hitchcock-Tulare.
“That’s one thing we take pride in is our defense,” Jung said. “Our blockers did a really good job sticking with the game plan, so they couldn’t get too many straight down bullets like they can hit.”
And holes that appeared to be available on film, suddenly disappeared during the match.
“You look at game film and it’s like OK we can score here, we can score here,” Opp said, “and then all of sudden OK, it just doesn’t work.”
Steger helped to erase many potential Patriots points by playing lock down defense in the back row.
“It starts out in practice,” Steger said, “because we have really good hitters and digging against them really helps.”
Hitchcock-Tulare wiped out a seven-point deficit in the third set and eventually closed to within a point at 24-23 before Warner secured the pivotal set.
From there, the Monarchs overcame a 4-0 deficit to start the fourth set and played with a lead the rest of the way to secure the victory.
“I think we played our hearts out,” said Cora Hofer, one of six seniors on the Hitchcock-Tulare squad. “We played as hard as we could, but it wasn’t quite enough.”
In the end, a few too many costly errors proved to be too much for the Patriots to overcome against Warner on its home floor.
“You need a dang near perfect game. We had a lot of errors,” Opp said. “Whether it was a serving error, a hitting error, an out of system error, we had a lot of errors, and you can’t have that against good teams.”
Hitchcock-Tulare finished with a 27-5 record and now its not of the final 16 teams still playing.
Opp said he feels the current system is broken when two of the top teams have to face each other in region play.
“This was a state tournament game here,” Opp said, “and it’s unfortunate that somebody has to stay home.”
Warner, 30-6, will take on Colman-Egan in the SoDak 16 on Tuesday. The Monarchs will definitely be battle tested.
“Hitchcock gave us good preparation for it,” Jung said.
Hofer, who led the Patriots with 13 kills, reflected on what she will remember most about her days of playing for Hitchcock-Tulare.
“Just the team we built, all of the girls,” Hofer said. “We created a family, not just a team.”
Serving: Hitchcock-Tulare (Gracyn Bixler 1 ace); Warner 93-98 6 aces (Reagan Wood 15-17 2 aces, Courtney Leidholt 12-13 2 aces, Jaycee Jung 18-18 1 ace, Tatum Hanson 19-20 1 ace).
Hitting: Hitchcock-Tulare (Cora Hofer 13 kills, Tess Bixler 7 kills, Rebecca Huizenga 6 kills, Laina Puffer 4 kills); Warner 176-212 48 kills (Jung 37-45 13 kills, MaKenna Leidholt 42-51 12 kills, Courtney Leidholt 26-29 8 kills, Olivia Marcuson 16-21 6 kills).
Setting: Hitchcock-Tulare (G. Bixler 27 assists); Warner 202-206 47 assists (Hanson 71-71 19 assists, Wood 85-88 19 assists).
Digs: Hitchcock-Tulare (Cambree Hoekman 25, Emmerie Arthurs 23, Avarie Estey 20); Warner 112 (Jung 30, Keira Steger 25, Wood 15).
Blocks: Hitchcock-Tulare (Hofer 7 assists, Arthurs 4 assists, Huizenga 3 assists); Warner 1 solo 16 assists (Miah Leidholt 5 assists, MaKenna Leidholt 1 solo 3 assists, Kaydee Mackner 3 assists, Jung 3 assists).
Records: Hitchcock-Tulare 27-5; Warner 30-6.
