The Hinton Blackhawk volleyball team returned to Coralville with an emphatic win over Iowa City Regina in a Class 2A State Quarterfinal on Tuesday night.
Leading up to the match, Hinton senior Bailey Boeve was appreciative of the opportunity to be back at the state tournament. She says the atmosphere was great to be a part of.
Heading into the match, Hinton knew that Regina would go to Reese Naeve more often than not. That proved to be true as the future Iowa State Cyclone recorded 29 kills for the Regals in the loss. Co-head coach Kate Ortegren says the Blackhawks were able to prove that having a team is way better than having one strong player.
And while Hinton still allowed 29 kills to Naeve, she was hitting a negative efficiency in the first set of the match. Coach Ortegren attributes that to a strong block that made it tough for her to record kills.
Bailey Boeve was the star for the Blackhawks recording 28 kills to lead the way. She says Addison Dunkel and Kate Hoefling did a tremendous job setting her up to have success.
Boeve also had a bit of a slow start with three kills in the first set and averaging at least eight kills per set over the next three sets of the match. Boeve says she had to work through some nerves early in the contest.
Hinton handled their business in the first two sets but stumbled in the third set by giving it up to the Regals. Coach Ortegren says the girls just took their foot off the gas pedal for a moment.
Thankfully, Hinton came back to win the fourth set and secure a 3-1 win over the Regals to move on in the state tournament. Boeve says it will be important to learn from this matchup that letting up on the gas pedal cannot happen the rest of the week.
Hinton will square off with Dike-New Hartford in the state semifinal round. Dike-New Hartford has eliminated the Blackhawks in each of the last two trips Hinton has made to Coralville. Coach Ortegren says they are going to have to play their best game to rewrite a different script.
First serve between the Blackhawks and Wolverines is set for 4:25 PM today in Coralville. KLEM’s coverage begins with a pregame show starting at 4:10.
