The WACO Warrior volleyball team defended Bob Hilmer Court Thursday night, sweeping Hillcrest Academy in straight sets in the Superconference opener for both schools. The Warriors took the match by 25-12, 25-15 and 25-21 scores. The WACO offense was led on the night by Marie Farmer with seven kills and six for Emma Wagler. Meredith Roth had 15 assists. Defensively Halle Shelman and Zoey Dennler both finished with 16 digs, Farmer and Wagler had three blocks each and at the service line, Morgan Meyer finished with 3 aces. Following the match, Roth and Farmer spoke with KCII sports about the win. “Our points of emphasis are to really come together as a team. We are a newer team after losing a lot of seniors. Keep pushing and finishing, and we achieved that tonight. When we’re on is when our passes are on. When our back row is doing it’s job, and they did a great job tonight, our setters are able to get our hitters a good set and run things besides the basic sets and then they are able to get kills. Communicating with each other is important.”

Raven leaders on the night included 18 digs and eight kills for Malia Yoder, five assists for Kylee Statler, four aces for Claire Withrow and a pair of blocks for Niva Helmuth. Head coach Brandon Statler joined KCII sports after the match to talk about his team’s competitive third set. “(In the third set) we finally created a little deception, which is hard when we couldn’t get the ball to the setter earlier. We don’t lose, we learn. Niva (Helmuth) and Malia (Yoder) had one of their better nights of the year so far. Our serves were solid. We probably served 90%, that’s focus. There were ups and downs. We’re still learning.”

With the win, the Warriors improve to 2-2, Hillcrest falls to 2-2. Both teams will be in action Saturday at the English Valleys tournament.