3A State Recap: Death, Taxes, and HCA Winning State
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The rest of the state in class 3A may be breathing a sigh of relief. Maybe. As Heritage Christian Academy won its fourth straight state title (3 in class 3A), all of the key players who were key contributors on…
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Continue ReadingThe rest of the state in class 3A may be breathing a sigh of relief. Maybe. As Heritage Christian Academy won its fourth straight state title (3 in class 3A), all of the key players who were key contributors on those teams are set to sail off into the sunset. However, will it be a reload or a rebuild? There are players who have been in the program who though didn’t see the court as much, have the winning DNA in their system now. Only time will tell, but for now, here is the recap of the Class 3A state tournament.
I didn’t get a chance to do a preview but if you follow my writings you know I would have picked HCA. The big shocker was they lost a match. The final pool play battle went three sets, with Beloit escaping with the victory to pit a three-way tie atop the pool. Heritage would get the top spot with the three-setter and end with five set victories. And Smoke Valley would get the second nod after having the head-to-head win over Beloit.
The second pool would see a Silver Lake team that had been good all year go 3-0 on the day not dropping a set. Their opening match versus Cheney was a great one to start the day with both ending in -23 sets. After the tough defeat, Cheney would rebound to win their later matches, with the third going three sets.
The semifinal would pit Heritage Christian versus Cheney and Silver Lake taking on Smoke Valley. Heritage Christian got it done in two, with matching scores of -17. Rachel Van Gorp Rachel Van Gorp 5'9" | OH Heritage Christian | 2024 State #94 Nation KS , who will be heading to Iowa State had a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs in the match. Setter Anna Schenk dished out 21 assists in the match. Alex Bittner tried to force an upset behind 7 kills and 14 digs.
We got a great three-setter in the other semifinal. A very tightly fought match with no set being separated by more than three points. The first set went to Silver Lake, which put Smoke Valley in a must-win situation and they didn’t flinch, pulling out the second 25-23. Katja Blanchat Katja Blanchat 6'0" | MB Smoky Valley | 2025 State KS went off, going for 18 kills and 9 digs to help her team win the third set 25-23 to advance to the state title match.
The championship match appeared to be heading to another classic but between the great play of Heritage Christian and the emotional roller coaster Smoke Valley went through in the semifinal, HCA ran away with the first set 25-9. In the second set, the Valley fared much better but Van Gorp and Grace Schmedding Grace Schmedding 6'0" | OH Heritage Christian Academy | 2024 State KS were too much offensively, along with 10 team aces and Heritage would walk away as state champions. Van Gorp, Schmedding, and Schenk were joined on the all-tournament team by Cy Rae Campbell Cy Rae Campbell 5'11" | MB Heritage Christian | 2024 State #45 Nation KS . Smoke Valley was represented by Katja Blanchat Katja Blanchat 6'0" | MB Smoky Valley | 2025 State KS and Hope Duncan Hope Duncan 5'8" | DS/L Smoky Valley | 2024 State KS .
The third-place match saw Silver Lake get the sweep over Cheney. Ella Bolan Ella Bolan 5'11" | OH Silver Lake | 2025 State KS and Sarah Wehrli Sarah Wehrli 5'6" | S Silver Lake | 2024 State KS made the all-tournament team for Silver Lake, while Cheney was represented by Jailyn Adolph Jailyn Adolph 5'4" | DS/L Cheney | 2024 State KS and Alex Bittner.
Beloit featured Mylie Brown Mylie Brown 5'9" | OH Beloit | 2024 State KS and Addison Budke Addison Budke 6'0" | OH Beloit | 2025 State KS on the all-tournament team to round out the bunch.