Advance VB wins ninth straight district championship

The Advance volleyball team will continue their two-time state title defense after defeating Leopold in four sets to win the Class 1 District 3 championship on Tuesday, Oct. 29 in Zalma.

The Hornets were seemingly in for a long night after dropping the opening set 25-20 to the Wildcats. However, they went to work and took the next three sets, 28-26, 25-14, 25-18, to claim the title.

Advance coach Erin Hoffman knew which squad was ramped up in the early going, which may have led to a slow start.

“We could tell our girls’ adrenaline was really on fire,” Hoffman said. “I just had to let them get it out of their system and once they decided to just be very composed that’s when they started to play their game.”

Leopold started strong, doubling up the Hornets by building 12-6, 16-8 and 18-9 leads. Advance got a couple of points to cut it to 18-11 but later a kill by sophomore Rylie Schreiner pushed the lead to 20-12. Moments later, Schreiner’s kill attempt was blocked out for a 22-13 edge. A relatively safe 23-16 edge turned into a narrow 23-19 lead but the Wildcats scored two of the next three for a 25-20 set one victory.

Advance began with leads of 7-3, 11-4, and 22-14 in the second set, but then saw the Wildcats go on a 12-3 run to take a brief 26-25 edge. Advance blocked a kill attempt that landed out of bounds, but then Leopold was unable to go in front by two to secure a second straight-set win.

The Hornets tallied the final three points to escape with a 28-26 second set win. Advance took the final point as a serve wasn’t handled by Leopold. There wouldn’t be very many leads for Leopold the rest of the evening.

Leopold coach Heather Jansen thought her team didn’t sustain its confidence throughout the entire match.

“We lost a little bit of our confidence,” Jansen said. “We are still very young, we have three seniors on the squad, one of them that’s a starter, so you’ve got a lot of young nerves working things out. Lots of sophomores, lots of freshmen, couple of juniors. It’s hard to come out on your first district game and not have a little bit of nerves that contribute as it goes.”

Advance led the third set 3-0 before a quick tie by the Wildcats. However, it was later 9-6 and then 13-8 after a 4-0 surge in favor of Advance. A 6-0 stretch by the Hornets broke open a 15-13 edge into a more comfortable 21-13 advantage.

Advance sophomore Emma Eilers’ kill attempt rolled on top of the net before touching down on the Wildcats’ side, giving the Hornets a 25-14 third set win.

“We have to go back and remember fundamentals,” Jansen said. “We have to remember to do passing and have serve receive. If we don’t have that, then it’s hard for our setter to go out and do her job and the hitters to do theirs. So a little bit of just that fundamental passing and receiving in the last couple of sets is a little bit of our downfall and our communication. We started to break down and it’s a lot to do with nerves and a young team. You’ve got to work through them and come back.”

Leopold jumped to a 4-1 lead in the fourth set and it was later 5-2 and 6-4 after Ava Jansen’s kill attempt landed in bounds. But the Hornets responded with five consecutive points to build a 9-6 lead. This stretch included a violation for Leopold crossing the center line. For the Hornets, they kept on working as it later grew to a 16-8 edge.

“We talk about how if you get up by two and three points, back and forth, you’re going to win and so all we can do is fight to get that ball back,” Hoffman If we’re ahead by three and you continue you’re going to be the one on top at the end.”

Piper Lincoln led Leopold in kills with 15, while Schreiner led Advance with 17 kills.

Leopold’s season ends with a 23-8-1 record, similar to its 2023 win total (24).

Advance won its ninth straight district championship and secured its 10th straight 20-win season. During that stretch, the Hornets won five state championships.

Advance will travel to Class 1 District 4 champion Oak Ridge at 6:30 p.m., on Thursday, Oct. 31, in the Class 1 sectional round. Oak Ridge won its first-ever district championship, leading to a classic David vs. Goliath matchup on Halloween.