North English

With a chance to advance and extend their season, the Ravens went on the road to challenge the English Valleys Bears in the first round of the Class 1A regionals on Oct. 17. 

Earning a postseason victory on their home court the Bears defeated Hillcrest in a sweep with final scores of 25-15, 25-21, 25-16.  

“Volleyball is a game of mistakes, if you can adjust and cut your mistakes, then you get it turned around and we really could not adjust tonight,” Hillcrest coach Brandon Statler said. 

After English Valleys won the first set by 10 points, the next set saw the most competitive contest of the night. Despite the Bears taking a quick 5-0 lead, the Ravens not only erased their deficit, but they eventually took the lead with a 15-14 score. 

Hillcrest was never able to extend its lead past more than one point and this led to English Valleys sticking around. When the score became tied at 17-17 the Bears went on a 8-4 run to close out the set. 

In the final set of the night, the Bears reached 20 points before Hillcrest was able to reach 10. Not being able to find a consistent rhythm on offense and committing too many errors, Hillcrest saw its season end in the third set with the Bears completing a sweep to advance to the next round. 

Despite the loss, junior Malia Yoder put together another solid and productive performance for Hillcrest. Yoder had 13 kills and 14 digs on the night.

“Her decision making,” coach Statler said about what Yoder excels at on the volleyball court. “She adjusts so well, when she’s out of system, she’s got a little two step approach, it’s so quick. She can do it anywhere on the court and when we’re out of system, that’s where we go.”

With this win the Bears improved their record to 15-14 and will go on the road to battle the Don Bosco Dons (21-16) in the quarterfinal round of the Class 1A regionals. 

Hillcrest ends the year with a 10-14 record, a six-game improvement from last year. Having no seniors on their roster the Ravens don’t lose anyone to graduation. 

“We’ve got a great group of girls that will work hard this offseason and we get them all back,” coach Statler said about his team. 

Hillcrest 3, Louisa-Muscatine 0

Ending the regular season on a strong note against a conference opponent, Hillcrest swept the Louisa-Muscatine Falcons, 3-0, with final scores of 25-11, 25-15, 25-16 on Oct. 10. 

This home sweep marks the fourth time the Ravens have swept an opponent in a five-set match this year and it improves their conference record to 3-5. 

With this loss the Falcons remain winless on the season (0-21). Against the Ravens sophomore Taylor Morrison and senior Brooklyn Skidmore led their team with three kills. 

Hillcrest junior Malia Yoder led all players in kills (11). On defense Yoder had the second most digs on the team (8). While serving she had a serve efficiency of 100% on nine attempts and connected on four service aces. 

Leading the Ravens in service aces was junior Kylee Statler. Accounting for 11 successful serves on 14 attempts, Statler ended the night with eight service aces. 

Sophomore Claire Withrow led Hillcrest with 17 assists while junior Lydia Beachy led the team with 10 digs.