Local athletes took the floor for the first time this season at the Keota volleyball tournament Monday, and for the second straight year, Hillcrest Academy took the hardware.

The Ravens swept through the competition en route to the championship with a 4-0 record. They topped conference rivals Lone Tree 21-17 and 21-10 and Highland 21-5 and 21-16, before beating the home Eagles 21-15 and 21-17 and English Valleys 21-17 and 21-14. After their win, Raven seniors Claire Withrow, Niva Helmuth, Adrianne Blauvelt, Tara Poole, Nora Swartzendruber and Stavia Miller joined KCII sports to talk about the night and this year’s team, “We kept our cool tonight. We didn’t get too excited or too down if something didn’t go our way. We kept going strong. We didn’t win this tournament by not making any mistakes. There were a lot of mistakes made, but we fixed them. We kept our cool and at the same time stayed hyped.”

Keota finished second with a 3-1 record on the night. The Eagles scored wins over Lone Tree 21-19, 19-21 and 15-12, EV 21-16 and 21-13 and Highland 21-10 and 21-12. Highland split their matches, following losses to Hillcrest and Keota, they took down rival Lone Tree 21-8 and 21-6 and English Valleys 21-23, 21-9 and 15-3. Lone Tree went winless in matches on the night but took a set against Keota.