Lady Indians defeat Washington for tournament win

HILLSBORO — For the third time in the ’25 season, the Hillsboro Lady Indians defeated the Washington Lady Blue Lions on the volleyball court, sweeping their Division IV First Round District match on Monday. 

The win against the visiting No. 11 seeded Lady Blue Lions at Hillsboro High School saw No. 6 seeded Hillsboro win the match in three straight sets by scores of 25-17, 25-11 and 25-11. 

The match saw Hillsboro collect 30 kills, 11 aces, one block, 33 digs and 29 assists. 

“The girls did very good tonight, but I give it to Court House too. A couple of times I got a little nervous because they were playing pretty well,” HHS head coach Heather Jones said. “We have to be more aggressive going into Thursday’s tournament game against Logan Elm. 

“They are a very good team (Logan Elm), and since I've been coaching we haven’t played them yet, except for a summer tournament where they beat us. We have to be aggressive, and I tried to get the girls to be more aggressive to prepare for Thursday.”  

Hillsboro was led in kills by Ryan Wagoner with 14, while Tylee Davis totaled nine and Emmalee Young collected four. Also with kills were Riley Pence (two) and Marianne Mycroft (one). 

HHS also had the aforementioned 11 aces where Young finished with five, and teammates Josie Rhoades and Davis each had two. Also with an ace were Pence and Wagoner. 

Collecting the lone block for Hillsboro was Kayla Seeling. In digs, the leader was Wagoner with 12, and Davis was next with 10. There was also Seeling with three digs, Rhoades also had three, and with two was Allie Roush, The Lady Indians had one dig each by Pence, Mycroft and Young. 

Hillsboro collected 29 assists as a team, and finishing with 25 of those was Seeling, while teammates Young (two), Roush (one) and Davis (one) also had an assist. 

In serve receptions, HHS totaled 27 where Macy Fauber and Wagoner each had eight, while Wagoner totaled seven. Others with serve receptions were Roiush (four), Davis (four), Rhoades (two), Mycroft (one) and Young (two). 

In set one, the two teams played their closest set where HHS led from start to finish, and there were no ties. HHS jumped out to a 4-0 lead and continued to build on their advantage with a 10-3 lead as Wagoner had an ace. Washington cut Hillsboro’s lead to six points at 11-6, but the Lady Indians continued to defend their home court with a 17-7 lead as the Lady Blue Lions called a timeout. 

The set continued with a 19-12 HHS lead following a point at the net by Seeling, but eventually Hillsboro scored their 24th point of the set with an ace from Young and won the first set when Washington hit their own side of the net on a serve for a 25-17 score. 

Set two saw ties early on at 1-1, 2-2, and 4-4, but the Lady Indians took over from there with a 10-3 lead off some serves by Rhoades that helped score points and a play by Wagoner. 

Washington called a timeout when they trailed by seven at 10-3, but the Lady Indians kept the pressure on their FAC rival with a 14-8 lead, and later a lead of 17-8, as WCH called another timeout. 

HHS responded with a point from Davis, and for a 21-9 lead it was a point from Wagoner. The set kept rolling along as Wagoner had another big hit at the net for a 24-9 lead, and HHS scored their 25th set-winning point off a serve by Washington that landed out of play for a 25-11 win. 

Set three also saw a 25-11 final score, as the Lady Indians didn’t trail in the set and there were no ties. HHS scored following serves by Davis, and when HHS built a 9-4 lead, Washington called a timeout. HHS eventually led 14-9 off a play at the net by Young. 

An ace from Young put the Lady Indians ahead 20-9. The Lady Blue Lions stopped play with a timeout, and following the timeout, Hillsboro’s Young had another ace for a point. Eventually, the third set and match ended off a Davis hit for the final point of the 25-11 set three win. 

“The girls wanted to win pretty big, being their last home game, especially for the seniors being their final game here,” Jones said. “The girls played very well as a team, and I was able to get in a few of our JV girls at the end to give some tournament playing time, and that was nice to get them in.”

This is the third time this season Hillsboro has defeated Washington, as in Frontier Athletic Conference play HHS won against the Lady Blue Lions on Sept. 9 in three sets (25-18, 25-15, 25-17) at HHS, and later on Sept. 25 Hillsboro also won in three sets (25-16, 25-8, 25-16) at Washington C.H. 

The win improves Hillsboro to 15-8 overall this season, and next is a quarterfinal match on Thursday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. where Hillsboro will face the No. 3 seeded Logan Elm Lady Braves at LEHS.