English Valleys powers past Hillcrest in playoffs

The Hillcrest Academy volleyball team saw its season come to an end on Monday in a 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-14) playoff sweep at the hands of English Valleys.

With a pair of 6-foot-tall middles, outside hitters at 5-11 and 5-7 and a setter able to play at the net, the Bears provided a difficult physical challenge for the much smaller Ravens. Hillcrest was able to deter the EV front line when the two sides met in Keota back in August to open the season, forcing tips from middle blockers Ava Gehrking and Olivia Debevec rather than full power swings, keeping the match close in a 2-1 Bear win. The Bears had no such issues in Monday’s bout.

English Valleys came out hot, swinging hard and smothering the Raven attack at the net, cruising to an easy first-set win. In the second, Hillcrest swung back.

A series of Bear mistakes gave the Ravens an early 5-1 lead, and while EV fought their way back into the set, Hillcrest began finding the floor with a series of tips over the block that found gaps in the EV defense, forcing the Bears to burn their first timeout of the match with a 13-10 deficit.

Out of that timeout, English Valleys went on an 8-1 run, pressing to put the set away. The Bears eventually forced set point with a 24-18 lead, giving themselves six opportunities to put the second away.

Hillcrest battled back, surviving four set points to bring the game within two thanks to a Jalise Bailey block and a Claire Miller ace, but Gehrking got an open swing in the middle to put the game away, 25-22.

“We talked about offensive coverage, covering our hitters against the block, which I thought we did better,” Raven head coach Tanna Boshart said of Hillcrest’s improvement from set one to set two. “We also got up a stronger block. It felt like, in the first set, they just had their way offensively, but we were able to at least get a block up and get some touches [in the second.]:

Hillcrest kept things close early in the third set, bringing it within one with a 12-11 deficit. It was all Bears the rest of the way, as a massive kill by Debevec rocked the gym and put an exclamation point on a 12-3 run to end the match for the Bears.

“We ain’t scoring points on defense,” English Valleys head coach Jill Williams said of the way her hitters stepped up to open the playoffs.

The loss ended the career of Raven middle Ruth Witthoft, the program’s lone senior who grew into a leader for the team over the course of her senior season.

“When I think about Ruth this year, I just think about the development of her game,” Boshart said. “She was always behind Niva Helmuth, who was such an explosive player, and I feel like Ruth was one that waited her time, did the work, got better and improved. I thought she did a really nice job for us in the middle this year, and she’s a true team player. Tonight, she didn’t feel like her serve was what she wanted and she actually asked for [freshman defensive specialist] Addie Gordinier to come in and serve for her. I think that awareness, that being willing to remove yourself when you don’t feel like you’re performing your best and have a teammate you think can do better speaks volumes to the character she has.”

Hillcrest ended the year with a 10-16 record.