The seeds of Hoehne’s first state volleyball championship were planted long ago.
It was up to a determined bunch of Farmers to till the soil. They did so Saturday night at the Denver Coliseum.
Hoehne, on its first trip to the volleyball state tournament, went home champions after posting a 25-21, 25-18, 25-17 victory over Swink to capture the Class 2A title.
“The girls were starting to believe once we got through regionals,” said Hoehne coach Kathy Neve, who guided her team to a 29-2 season mark. “We got up this morning, open their doors and they said, ‘We’re ready, Coach.”‘
After surviving a five-set semifinal marathon against Simla, the Farmers finally hit their stride late in the first game by riding the defense.
Farmers juniors Nicole and Amanda Paradisa, Megan Hiss and senior Jennifer Stonebraker formed a formidable wall at the net, and libero Abby Hart never seemed to be out of position in the back.
“With a team like that, you really have to hit at them so that they can’t come back at you,” said Swink coach Dee Dee Shiplet, whose fourth-seeded Lions finished 24-7.
Said the 6-foot Hiss, who was named the tournament MVP by The Denver Post: “That was my goal, to be there in position and do the best I could with the blocks.”
Up 2-0, the Farmers made certain it was going to be a straight- set match. Hoehne scored 13 consecutive points on Stonebraker’s serve and the Lions, who rallied to within 18-13, never regrouped.
“I just served to the open spots,” said Stonebraker, whose team earlier in the day beat Swink 3-0 in the final game of pool play. “Coach told us all we had to do was play our best, and play our ‘A’ game. I can’t even explain how good this feels.”
The brightest star for Hoehne, located northeast of Trinidad, was Hiss. In the third game she recorded three of her game-high 10 kills.
“(Friday) against Meeker (Hoehne’s only loss of the tournament), we got down a little bit, but we recovered,” Hiss said. “This is what we had been hoping for all season.”
The price to pay for success – a promised parade through Trinidad with blaring fire trucks, tractors and all the pomp and circumstance that comes with any state championship, especially one for a school whose last state title came in 1980 in football.
It was the fourth overall state title, also joining 1957 and 1958 baseball, for the Farmers.
“And I have to dye my hair pink,” Neve said.
All-tourney team
Marissa Campbell, Swink, Jr.
Megan Hiss, Hoehne, Jr.
Breann Nesselhuf, Swink, Jr.
RaeLynn Snyder, Simla, Jr.
Jennifer Stonebraker, Hoehne, Sr.
Morgan Witzel, Burlington, Jr.
MVP: Hiss
Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
