Epic 4th Set Comeback Leads to GPAC Title
Hastings, NE - The Hastings College volleyball team claimed back-to-back Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament Titles by defeating No. 5 Dordt 25-14, 26-24, 17-25, 29-27 on Saturday night in front of an incredible crowd in Lynn Farrell Arena.
What made this win even more incredible was the fact that Hastings trailed 19-9 in set four and showed unbelievable grit coming all the way back to win the set 29-27.
The Broncos had managed to get to within 21-13 when the Broncos began its run. Katie Placke (SR/Grand Island, NE) would pick up a solo block to make it 21-14.
Emily Filsinger (SR/Clearwater, NE) then came into serve and moments later Jill Bax (SR/Lincoln, NE) set Placke for the kill to make it 21-15. A service ace from Filsinger made 21-16 forcing a Dordt timeout as the Bronco crowd was definitely back in the match.
Hastings continued its run as a long rally ended on an Emma Altena hitting error getting the Broncos to within four. Another service ace from Filsinger sent the crowd into a frenzy as Hastings trailed 21-18.
The teams traded points until the Defenders had set point at 24-21. Placke found Krolikowski on the outside to make it 24-22 and then Placke set Andrea LaVene (SR/Roca, NE) to get Hastings to within one point as the roof was about to blow off the arena.
Then the crowd went berserk after what seemed like an endless rally finally ended on Altena's attack that went long to tie the set 24-24.
Dordt would once again see set point multiple times only to see Hastings turn the Defenders away and as Dordt led 27-26, the Broncos had one more run left.
Sage Meyer (JR/Bellevue, NE) got things started with a kill to tie the set 27-27. Then Lucy Skoch (FR/Hastings, NE) and Placke teamed up to block Altena giving Hastings match point.
The Defenders would try one more time to go outside to Altena but Skoch and Placke turned her away with another block as the Broncos stormed the court in celebration.
Head Coach Matt Buttermore talked about that big run that led to the momentum change in set four, "We needed it because they had taken the momentum and we needed a little bit of a boost there to push us," Buttermore continued. "But once we started to make some plays and slow them down at the net a little bit and then the crowd factored in and when it got a little closer it put some pressure on them."
Katie Placke looked as if she was really on her game as she began the game going 7-for-7 on kills as she finished the night with a team high 20 kills while hitting .386.
"She had it going tonight you know we used her a lot earlier in the year and I think she got a little tired and we kind of had to back off her a little bit," Buttermore said of Placke. "It helped when Sage came back and then tonight she had it going and we just kept feeding her."
Hastings got off to a very fast start running right past the Defenders in set one 25-14 and then fought Dordt off in set two to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Buttermore noticed that Dordt started doing things differently in sets two and three that turned the tide of the match for a while, "They started to serve and pass a little better, then your offense is going to run better and then we started making some silly hitting errors on top of it," Buttermore said. "We really dominated the serve and pass game the first two sets and they did a good job bouncing back a little bit at the end of set two and three."
Casey Krolikowski (JR/Cairo, NE) added 12 kills while hitting .200 with Meyer adding nine kills and LaVene finishing with six kills. Skoch finished the night with 10 blocks.
As a team Hastings hit .161 while Dordt hit .125 and Hastings also held the 13-to-11 advantage in total team blocks.
Clare Hamburger (JR/Hastings, NE) finished with a team high 25 assists while Placke added 18 assists. Jill Bax had another sensational night with her team leading 29 digs.
The Broncos improve to 25-2 on the year and will now wait to see which seed it will get for the NAIA Volleyball National Championship. The selection show will air at 10:00 a.m. Monday Nov. 13 on Facebook Live.
