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Hoover conducts offense to season-opening wins
Belle Plaine goes 2-0 at home triangular
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
BELLE PLAINE — One returning player for the Belle Plaine volleyball team started every match last season. That someone is Alli Hoover.
As a freshman, Hoover racked up a total of 462 assists as the team’s setter of the offense and earned second team South Iowa Cedar League honors.
Hoover did a little bit of everything last season, and those skills were on display in the team’s season-opening triangular at home Tuesday night.
As the maestro of the offense, Hoover racked up the assists, kills and a few aces as the Plainsmen opened their season 2-0.
“I’ve changed a lot over my ability to take over the court and making sure everyone is working together,“ Hoover said as she begins her sophomore season.
A big aspect of that is knowing when to set up her teammates and when to go for the kill herself to throw off the defense.
“I mostly do it when our hitters are having a tough time or when there is an open spot,” Hoover said. “I’m good at reading the defense.”
Hoover had several timely kills in that fashion.
In the nightcap of the evening, Belle Plaine won a thrilling match over Highland by set scores of 25-23 and 26-24. The team’s composure was tested in each one.
In set one, after some miscues, the Plainsmen found themselves down 14-6 and called timeout. It was important for the team to remain positive.
“We talked about what we needed to do better, but we were also just trying to cheer each other up a lot,” Hoover said. “ We’re really good at cheering each other up, and it helped us a lot.”
The Plainsmen rallied to score six straight, forcing a Huskies timeout.
When the scored reached 19-19, Taylor Johnson’s kill gave the Plainsmen the lead.
On the set-point, Johnson delivered another kill off the assist from Hoover.
Set two was just as competitive but was much more of a back-and-forth.
After being tied at 17, the Plainsmen jumped to a 22-18 lead and held off a late Huskies rally for the 26-24 set win.
A Johnson kill, Hoover ace and two kills from Jules Stamp helped the team’s late surge.
In the first match of the evening, it was all Plainsmen over Baxter. The team won both sets by scores of 25-11 and 25-12.
Fast starts were a huge part of each set, as Annika Hultquist totaled eight aces in the match.
The look of the team is new in terms of major contributors this season, but a 2-0 start has the Plainsmen feeling confident.
“I think we’re going to do really good this year,” Hoover said. “Its definitely different from what we had last year with our height, but our hitting is going to do good this year.”
The Plainsmen showed a lot of balance offensively. Five players had four or more kills, with Stamp leading the way with 13.
“We’re really young, but they put a ton of work in over the summer,“ head coach April Kressley said. ”We’ve already seen a lot of development since June, and we are really emphasizing having a positive mindset.“
