Richland vs Hillsboro Central Valley

Recap

The Hillsboro/Central Valley Burros welcomed the Richland Colts to Hillsboro Monday in a ND Class B Girls Volleyball contest. Despite giving up their first set in five matches, and committing ten service errors, HCV found their sixth consecutive victory: 25-12, 23-25, 25-15, 25-18.

Richland took an early lead in each of the four sets, leading 5-3 in the opening set before the Burros rallied on a 7-0 run to take a 10-5 lead. HCV would run away with the first set, outscoring the Colts from that point on, 15-7. The Burros notched six of their thirteen aces in the opening set, including three straight from Kennedy Olsen.

After a tight start to the second set, the Burros looked like they were going to pull away with a 22-19 lead. But Richland rallied, scoring five straight points off of a block and two kills by senior, Alayna Schmitt, a Burro hitting error, and a block from junior, Lila Viele, to make it 24-22 Richland. Olsen picked up a set-point save for HCV but Schmitt sealed the set with another kill.

The Burros would wake up, taking the third and fourth sets after trailing early. Richland led 5-1 to open the third set before the Burros scored five of the next six points to even the score. Leading 10-8, the Burros went on a 3-0 run and never let the lead get below three points the rest of the third set. Both teams evenly exchanged the first sixteen points of the fourth set, when the Burros went on another 3-0 run to lead 11-8. As with the third set, HCV never let the lead get below three points to finish off the match in four.

Seniors Carsi Hatlestad and Haley Smelden led the Burro offense with thirteen and eleven kills respectively. Classmates Sadie Gallagher and Olsen also combined for ten aces and eight kills in the win. Schmitt led the way for the Colts with fourteen kills and Viele led the team in blocks with five.

The Burros move to 9-1 in all competitions and have another near week to prepare for their next Region 1 matchup at Northern Cass next Monday. Richland falls to 1-4 in regular season play and has a quick turnaround before returning to Region 1 play at home against Lisbon on Tuesday.