Gallery by Heather BelcherĀ
Since making the move to Region 3 two years ago, outside of Shady Spring, Herbert Hoover has been a thorn in the side for Class AA volleyball teams in Southern West Virginia.
Thursday night in Coal City, the Huskies again proved they will be one of the top teams in Region 3 when postseason play rolls around.
Using solid defense, incredibly efficient serving and timely hitting, Herbert Hoover swept both Independence and Liberty, 2-0.
“I am very pleased to be leaving here with two (wins),” Herbert Hoover head coach Anita King said. “I feel like we have quite a bit of work to do, but we are still figuring out who we are as a team with some new additions and some new roles.”
A big portion of the satisfaction for King came from the fact the Huskies were trying out some changes for the first time and her team’s serving prowess on the night.
“I like our new lineup. Tonight was the first time running it,” King said. “I thought we started a little slow against Independence and took a little time getting comfortable. The JV played a tri-match last night, so we were missing both of our freshman middles. Alaina Douglas hit really well. That was one of the changes. We moved her away from (all-state hitter) Sydney (Shamblin). They were right next to each other. Tonight was the first time that Ashton Henrich has played middle this season. I loved her effort and her tempo coming to the ball. Abby Hanson is a senior (defensive specialist) that has come back to play this year and she played well.”
In taking down Independence (25-19, 25-7) in the first set, Hoover got 14 kills from Shamblin and made just one service error in 49 attempts, while recording nine aces.
“We are doing some type of aggressive serving drill in every single practice. I feel like we are down one hitter this year, but we are making up for that with our (serving) efficiency and our ace percentage,” King said. “Coming into tonight, we were averaging 22 percent, ace percentage. We served 98 percent against Independence. I am super proud of the focus that they had tonight to get the job done serving.”
The Huskies continued their strong serving into the second match leading to a 25-10, 25-17 win over the Raiders.
“It gives us a few more errors to make on swings,” King said about her team’s serving efficiency. “We are going to make errors, but I want aggressive errors. A service error is not an an aggressive error. I like this team. They are hard workers and a bunch of good kids with great chemistry.”
In the final match of the night, Independence top Liberty 25-14 in the opening set before winning a thriller in set two, 30-28.
“It goes back to what I said this weekend. We have good leadership.They all get along and mesh really well,” Independence head coach Kevin Bragg said. “This is a scrappy team and that is their identity.”
Leading 15-10 in set one, Independence pushed the lead to nine behind two service errors and a kill from Jaina Davis and Aubree Cantrell. Liberty could only get within seven points the rest of the way.
The Raiders stormed out of the gate in set two, building a 10-2 lead before Davis ran off eight straight service points to put the Patriots back in front.
Two kills from Cantrell and one from Skylar Wooten keyed the run.
“I thought Aubree was great. In practice I talked about getting her the ball more. What did they do? They responded,” Bragg said. “Jaina was great and Skylar was great. I thought every single one of them played really, really well and contributed at key times.”
The biggest lead for the Patriots was four points, but Liberty refused to go away, battling back to take a 20-19 lead.
Down the stretch, the set was tied six times. The last tie came at 28 apiece when a tip from Wooten saved the set for the Patriots.
A diving knuckle-ball serve from senior libero Ella Morgan put Indy one point away from the win which came on a blast from Davis.
After a tough weekend at the Shirley Brown Invitational against Class AAA teams, Bragg was pleased with how his team has progressed in such a short span.
“I want to keep building on things in practice. They want to get faster as a team,” Bragg said. “We have been working hard because they are a scrappy team and that is how we are going to have to win.”
After some struggles over the years against Independence, Liberty head coach Denise Arline was happy with her team’s performance.
“I think they have come a long way. We have never played this well against Independence. I wish it would have turned out differently, but I have nothing to be sad about,” Arline said.
Independence plays at the Philip Barbour tournament Saturday, while Liberty is back in action Tuesday at Meadow Bridge in a tri-match with the Wildcats and Oak Hill.