HUMBOLDT — Surviving a third set en route to punching a ticket to the KSHSAA 2A Volleyball State Championships, the Humboldt Cubs won their home sub-state tournament on Saturday.
Humboldt beat Southeast in the semifinals then took down Bluestem in three sets in the championship match.
“I thought we played well,” Humboldt head coach Terry Meadows said. “It’s significant to make state. You have to play well in the end. There’s many opportunities to falter. You can’t have an off day. We were able to string together some good wins here lately and it paid off.”
Humboldt beat Southeast, 2-0 (25-9, 25-7) in dominant fashion to start the day.
“We played well and the girls came out ready to win,” Meadows said. “We saw Southeast a few weeks ago and it was the same result then. So we knew their strengths and we knew we could compete with them. Our girls came out ready to play.”
Ricklyn Hillmon tallied a team-high seven kills for the Cubs in the semifinals while Laney Hull, Lakyn Meadows and Adalyn Hillmon added four apiece.
Lakyn Meadows added 10 assists while Skylar Hottenstein had a dozen digs.
“We had to come out on fire and not let Southeast get any kind of hope,” Meadows said. “We had to play our game and not to the level of our opponent. Our girls knew that we had to take it to them and they came out ready to go.”
Humboldt then beat Bluestem, 2-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-18) to punch its state tournament ticket.
“We came out really well in the first set. 25-15 is a good win. We came out swinging,” Meadows said. “Going into the second set, we started to focus on the end result instead of staying with the task at hand and taking care of Bluestem. We had a few points where we didn’t pass the ball well on serve-receive and Bluestem got some momentum. We let that one slip away. Going into the third set, we knew this was it. We didn’t have a cushion anymore. We had to take care of business and they did.”
Hottenstein set a single-game school record with 29 digs in the match.
“She looked like herself,” Meadows said. “There’s been a few matches this year where she gets in her head. But she’s still our best server. She came ready to play today and played really well. She had a ton of aces. From the service line, she’s a lot to handle. Her court leadership is top notch, too.”
Ricklyn Hillmon amassed 14 kills to pace the Cubs. Hull added 10 while Lakyn Meadows and Bailey Daniels each had 13 assists.
“All the girls did well when they needed to,” Meadows said. “Different girls stepped up and did well. Everybody played great. The main hitters did what they needed to do and everybody stepped up on defense.”
Up next
Humboldt heads to Dodge City on Friday for the KSHSAA 2A Volleyball State Championships. Undefeated Ellinwood earned the No. 1 seed, followed by Jefferson County North, Oakley, Humboldt, Hillsboro, Valley Heights, Conway Springs and Rossville.
The Cubs are in a pool with Ellinwood, Hillsboro and Rossville.
“Once you get to state, seeds really don’t matter,” Meadows said. “Everybody is going to be really good. We know it’s going to be a task. But we’re going to be there. We’ve made it to state, so now there’s no pressure. We’ll head up there and see what we can do.”
