BY JOHN DUBOIS
Commercial-News
DANVILLE —
The final day of action at the Schlarman Classic was highlighted by a three-set match between the host Hilltoppers and the Salt Fork Storm.
Both teams are picked by many to finish near the top of the Vermilion Valley Conference and it proved to be a hard-fought match between two evenly matched teams with the Storm prevailing 25-13, 21-25, 25-19.
The Storm were led by their senior trio of Heather Baker (18 kills and 6 blocks), Megan McCord (10 kills and 4 aces) and Maddy Stutsman (19 assists and 3 aces.)
With only eight players currently on the varsity roster and limited practice time, Storm coach Herb Wilkins was very pleased with the effort of his team.
“Schlarman is a quality team and we showed a lot of effort,” he said. “Given how little practice we have had, we basically came off the bus hitting. I really appreciate the effort of our three seniors. Heather, Megan and Maddy all took over this match at times.”
The Storm used a 9-1 spurt to open up an 18-7 lead in the first set and weren’t seriously threatened from that point. The final margin was the Hilltoppers’ largest lead in a very hard-fought second set.
“Our setters were hustling and we got some nice play from Serena Calhoun and Mandy Bianchetta in the second set,” said Schlarman coach Heidi Crane. “We had a lot of ups and downs in this match and this was one of the ups where we all came together as a team.”
The final margin was again the largest lead as the Storm scored the last three points in the third set.
“Tracy Brown and Erika Willis gave us some quality play off the bench,” Wilkins said. “I mixed up some things in the third set and that is the type of thing we will have to do at times to get wins. Hunter Marsh also played well and we did a good job overall of playing through the loss of the second set.”
The Storm would finish up their night with a decisive 25-8, 25-12 win over the Paris Tigers.
The Storm got out to an 11-0 lead in the first set and never looked back and used a 5-0 run to close out the second set. Baker (13 kills), McCord (5 kills and 5 aces) and Stutsman (17 assists and 5 aces) again led the way with Taylor Vice and Marsh adding 15 and 12 digs, respectively.
“We end this tournament with three wins (3-1) and the last time we did that we had a 22-win season, so I’m really happy with how things went,” Wilkins said. “Winning makes everyone smile and we had a lot of smiles tonight. We are growing as a team and you could see that in these wins.
“Baker was responsible for about 60 percent of that fast start in the first set and she has been there every game and I expect her to continue to be. I think McCord is going to be one of the best passers in the VVC, and Maddy showed what kind of all around player she was when she told me she wasn’t feeling well before this match. I told her to go out and make a win happen and she was another big part of the fast start.
“Toria Plotner is out with an injury and we will have some kids coming up from junior varsity at some point which will help us bring our whole team together. It was great to do so well at this tournament against such a high level of competition.” ‘
The Storm is now 4-1 overall and return to action Tuesday at Shiloh.
The Hilltoppers had a rough end to their night, losing 25-14, 25-14 to tournament champion St. Thomas More. The Hilltoppers kept things close in the first, trailing 14-13, but the Sabers used a decisive 11-1 run to close things out and were never seriously threatened in the second set.
“We were working together early and then it just started falling apart,” said Crane. “They are a very good team and run a great program with a fast offense you don’t see very often. It showed us a lot of things we need to work on.”
Even though the Hilltoppers finish their season-opening tournament at 1-3, Crane saw some positives.
“This was a nice learning experience for us,” she said. “We have to work together better as a team. Four key starters graduated from last years team and we are still working on a lineup. I prefer to start with this type of high level competition because it forces us to work through hard times and learn what we need to do to get to where we need to be.”
The Hilltoppers are 1-3 overall and return to action next Thursday with a home game against Bismarck-Henning.
