Semifinal a breeze for H-BR
By JOHN SAHLY
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jsahly@daily-chronicle.com
SERENA – As expected, Hinckley-Big Rock's girls volleyball team found little in terms of resistance from Christian Liberty Academy.
After rolling to a 25-15, 25-11 win over the Chargers on Tuesday in a Class 1A Serena Sectional semifinal, H-BR now can focus on a team that the Royals have consistently beaten, but have given them fits in two previous meetings this season in Newark. The two teams will meet in Thursday's sectional championship match at 7 p.m.
"I don't think anybody had more than a one- or two-point lead all the way up to 20," H-BR coach Don Watson said. "They're good, they're quick, they've got hops. We just have to play our game and we have to have hops equal to their hops."
H-BR (26-8-1) owns two victories against Newark, but those came by scores of 25-21, 25-21 and 25-23, 25-23, and all back-and-forth affairs.
"It's always tight with Newark," senior hitter Jenna Thorp said. "It's a good rival. It's nice when Little Ten teams play this far into the postseason."
Thorp said the key against Newark will be to neutralize its speed, led by outside hitter Katie Larson.
"They're a fast team. They run all of the quick stuff, the slides," Thorp said. "Reading the hitters is probably the biggest thing."
H-BR found its serve again on Tuesday after struggling with it in regionals. The Royals had eight aces, including three from Thorp and two each from senior Cassie Kroner and sophomore Kaitlin Phillips. The Royals trailed, 3-1, early but rattled of a 6-0 run and never looked back. Christian Liberty didn't help itself much, committing multiple consecutive errors in a variety of ways.
In the second game, the Royals raced out to leads of 7-1, 12-2 and 20-4 before finishing off the game and the Chargers. Thorp had four of her seven kills and three consecutive aces in the second game and Katie Hollis added two kills as H-BR controlled most of the action at the net and the pace of the attack.
"I think we played our game," Thorp said. "They're a competitive team, I think we just took them out of their game and played ours tonight, so that helped."
Watson said his team will have to step things up Thursday.
"We'll have our hands full," Watons said. "But we've done it once, we've done it twice, why not do it three times?"
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