C1 VB State Final: Advance handles success flawlessly in dominating title run

Throughout the history of sports, there has been no shortage of teams carrying expectations that overwhelm the group prior to it achieving what every follower had believed was a foregone conclusion. That couldn’t have been more clearly exhibited than on Saturday in a pair of contests that took place simultaneously about a mile apart on the campus of Southeast Missouri State.

The SEMO football squad, which was in first place in the Big South/OVC Football Association was hosting last-place Robert Morris at Houck Field.

And lost.

At the Show Me Center, the Advance High School volleyball team, which has been a Missouri powerhouse for six seasons, was battling South Iron for the MSHSAA Class 1 state championship.

And won.

The championship was the Hornet's fifth title in the past six seasons (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023).

The lesson is, that nothing is guaranteed in athletics, which makes what the young Hornet student-athletes did in sweeping South Iron 25-13, 25-13, 25-20 so impressive.

“They are just competitive,” veteran Advance coach Erin Hoffman said of her team. “They just want to play.”

A year ago, the Hornets were in the same position, though many thought that 2022 was a year to knock Advance.

Hoffman’s program had lost in the Quarterfinals to eventual state runner-up Gideon, which was followed up by losing 10 matches in the regular season.

“I will remember that last year,” Hoffman said, “(a state championship) shouldn’t have happened, but it did.

“Not everything was against us, but we didn’t have any seniors. We had to start three freshmen because I didn’t have any older kids. We were like 5-foot-3. It just wasn’t a volleyball mix.”

Yet Advance closed the 2022 season with 11 consecutive wins and the program’s fourth state title in five years.

This season, the Hornets could have felt entitled, but over the past 12 months, they never did.

“For them to keep their composure for an entire year,” Hoffman said, “and win it again, that is pretty good.”

Hoffman has been preaching to her team to be self-correcting for most of this season. She wanted them to execute the game plan, and if they made a mistake, realize it, and fix it without her having to instruct and correct every detail.

In the final two matches, the Hornets played nearly flawless volleyball.

Advance (35-3-3) was never threatened seriously in either the semifinal win over Galena or Saturday’s win over the Panthers (22-10-4).

“There have been very few games where all (of the Hornet players) have played good volleyball together,” Hoffman said. “In yesterday’s game and today, there was no person having a bad game. They all played well, and they played together as a team.

“They left me out of it.”

The Hornets built an early 5-1 lead in the opening set, and later 15-7. However, the Panthers rallied to pull to within 15-11.

Leading 20-13, Advance senior Kaylee Cline served five consecutive points to close the set.

In the second set, South Iron, which had played Advance to a 1-1 tie in the Dig For Life Tournament in September, led 5-3, before Hornet sophomore Emma Eilers served seven consecutive points for a 10-5 Advance margin.

The Hornets still led 18-13 when senior Lexi Hoffman finished the set with seven consecutive serves, as well.

The Panthers didn’t roll over despite being down two sets. They led 18-13 in the third set before Hoffman, again, served her team into a winning spot.

The senior served eight consecutive points for a 21-18 advantage and the Hornets finished their championship run moments later.

“They are all my best friends,” Lexi Hoffman said of this team through a flood of tears afterward. “It’s been crazy, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

The victory was Erin Hoffman’s sixth of her career, after winning a Class 1 state championship in 2003 at Bell City, which ironically, was recognized prior to Saturday’s game on the 20th anniversary of its title run.

Lexi Hoffman paced Advance with 33 attacks on Saturday and 19 kills. She ended her high school career by also passing for 12 assists and getting six digs.

Junior Addi Carlton had 13 attacks, 17 digs, and four assists while Eilers (10 digs), Olivia Kennedy (14 attacks), Kyndall Hitt (15 assists, four digs), Cline (three aces), Broga Wright-Hawkins (14 digs), and Abigail Kennedy (23 attacks) also contributed.