High School Girls Volleyball
Stags headed to the State Championship today!

 

[November 11, 2023]  The littlest school in Logan County, with an enrollment of 64 students, is headed to the ‘ship, as longtime volleyball coach Jennifer Hayes likes to call it.

The Hartsburg-Emden Stags are playing for the Class 1A Volleyball State Championship today at CEFCU Arena in Normal. Hartem (33-7) will play Galena (35-4) this morning at 10:30 a.m.

The Stags defeated the Cissna Park Timberwolves 25-17 and 25-13 on Friday morning in two sets that lasted thirty-nine minutes.

Coach Hayes had her team up early on Friday morning and in the gym practicing, in order to prepare them for the first match of the 2023 IHSA State Volleyball Tournament at 9:00 a.m.

“Mom had us up at 5:30 a.m. and practicing in the gym by 6:00 a.m.,” said the coach’s son, Alec Hayes, who is also an assistant on the Stags staff.

Teammates Alayna Briggs and Addie Beekman each backed up the assistant coach’s story.

“We were actually up at 5:00 a.m. and on the court by 6:00 a.m.,” said Briggs and Beekman, both smiling on the concourse of CEFCU Arena after the early morning win over Cissna Park.

Coach Jennifer Hayes knows what works best for her players. And after seeing them struggle in early morning matches this season, she knew it was best to get them up and going as early as possible. Her strategy worked perfectly. Her team came out on fire and was smooth from the start.

Set one

With Addie Beekman on the service line to start set one, the senior co-captain guided the Stags to a 6-0 lead.

Alayna Briggs earned the first kill of the day and after four consecutive errors by the Timberwolves and an ace by Beekman, the 6-0 lead forced Cissna Park into a timeout.

The second kill of the set by Briggs put the Stags up 7-2. After Beekman earned her first kill of the set, the Stags were playing it cool with a 12-5 lead. Another kill by Beekman, this time from the ten-foot line, put the Stags up 15-7.

The Timberwolves seemed to be rattled by the flawless play of the Stags early on. Once the Timberwolves settled down, they put together some nice hits and earned three kills in the process, closing the gap to 16-10.

But Briggs managed to rise up and earn two more kills to make the score 18-11. The sophomore would ignite her team on a 7-0 run and even the announcers on press row were amazed, saying, “Wow, Briggs is a sophomore! Wow!” As the score settled in at 24-11 and a Stags win was imminent, the Timberwolves did the best they could to prolong their loss. A 6-0 run by Cissna Park kept the Stags fans anxious but after one more hitting error, Hartem claimed victory in set one by a final score of 25-17.

Set two

Cissna Park got the serve to start set two but Briggs was quick with a kill to get the serve back for Hartem.

A 1-0 lead quickly turned into 4-0 after Sadie Williams and Briggs each were credited with kills. Williams was a one-woman wrecking crew with another kill and two aces to guide the Stags out to a 7-1 lead. Beekman added a kill to increase the lead to 10-3 and she was really catching fire at this point. Beekman put down two more kills to keep the momentum going strong and the result was a 13-4 lead.

Cissna Park called a quick timeout, but that did not extinguish Beekman’s arm. She came out swinging and put the Stags up 14-4 on yet another kill. Emma Eeten got in on the action a short time later, and with her kill the Stags were up 17-5.

Briggs continued to have a great game, stepping up and playing like she’d been there before. But she had not. In fact, it had been five years since Coach Hayes had a Stags team at State. So all these girls were playing at CEFCU Arena for the first time. But Briggs played polished and was on the attack. Another kill by Briggs and the score was 18-9. And yet another kill by Briggs made the score 19-11.

With the Timberwolves still vulnerable to errors, the score reached 22-12 and the Stags were beginning to smell victory. An ace by Briggs and then a kill by Beekman brought the fans to their feet with the score 24-12.

The celebration was put on pause for a brief moment, with the Timberwolves sneaking in one final kill. But after a serve traveled out of bounds on game point, the Stags were able to bask in the glory with the final score 25-13.

What a great start to the tournament!

Alayna Briggs led the team with 8 kills and Addie Beekman added 7 kills.

Briggs also tallied 7 service points and 4 digs.

Beekman led the Stags with 7 digs and she also contributed 11 service points.

Cloee O’Donoghue added 6 digs and 4 points.

Celia Cross turned in a terrific performance with 17 assists, 4 service points and 3 blocks.

Williams led the Stags with 16 service points. She also added 2 kills and 2 digs.

Kylie Starcevic had 7 service points and 3 digs.

Ellie Klokkenga had 3 digs and 2 blocks.

Emma Eeten had 1 kill and 1 block.

[Teena Lowery]