Hillcrest Academy couldn’t find their first win of the season, but won their first set in conference play in a 3-1 loss to Pekin last Tuesday. 

After falling behind 2-0 to the Panthers, Hillcrest came back with a 25-21 win in set three to take one against Pekin. Pekin came back and dominated the fourth set 25-9.

A number of players stepped up for Hillcrest to give them their first set win in conference play. After the loss of Mia Graber to a knee injury, Danae McGaffey has stepped up as the leading hitter for the Ravens. 

She had 10 kills on Tuesday night. After the match McGaffey said they have to take the feeling of winning that set and be able to apply it for a whole match. 

She said with new players filling in for Hillcrest Academy so far this year they have shown improvement and will be able to put together a full match soon. 

Malia Sedlacek had three kills and six digs for Hillcrest. 

In the absence of Graber, junior Yani Gutierrez has taken over as on-court leader for the Ravens and her effort was shown in the box score. She had two kills, 12 assists and 11 digs while going 7-8 from the service line. 

On Thursday the Ravens traveled to Wapello to take on the Arrows. They fell in straight sets 25-9, 25-21 and 25-19. 

They had a spread effort on offense with Gutierrez and Esther Hughes leading the team with four kills each. McGaffey had a pair of kills. 

McGaffey was 11-12 from the service line with a pair of aces. 

Norah Yoder had a team-high eight assists and Evelyn Gerber had five digs. 

Hillcrest Academy will play in SEISC Pool Play on Thursday at Burlington Notre Dame with first serve at 5 p.m.