By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
HUTCHINSON -- After rolling to the Pool II championship on Friday and advancing to the Class 4A championship match with a dominating semifinal performance, No. 6 seed Hayden's bid for a sixth state volleyball championship came up just short Saturday afternoon, with top seed Andale taking a 25-12, 25-27, 25-22 win over the Wildcats at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
After receiving its second-place Class 4A state medals, Hayden volleyball watches champion Andale receive its medals Saturday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. [Photo by Scott Paske/KSHSAA Covered]
Hayden (33-10) never led in the first game as Andale (36-1) jumped out to 8-2, 15-6 and 19-8 leads on the way to the decisive win.
The Wildcats bounced back in the second set and led 17-8 and 19-10 but Andale came all the way back to take a 25-24 lead before big kills from Hayden sophomore Hailey Schmidtlein got Hayden over the hump.
Hayden sophomore Hailey Schmidtlein puts away a kill in Saturday's Class 5A state championship match against Andale. [Photo by Scott Paske/KSHSAA Covered]
Hayden junior Mallory Tanking spikes the ball in Saturday's Class 4A championship match against Andale at the Hutchinson Sports Arena. [Photo by Scott Paske/KSHSAA Covered]
The third set was tied 13 times before Andale got the upper hand after the final tie at 19-19.
"The first game, we kind of just got in our way, and that's part of volleyball,'' Hayden coach Corrinne McGreevy said. "Sometimes it's a trickle down effect and you start making errors and you just can't stop. And we could not stop.
"But we bounced back. They had short-term memory. They moved on and they let it go. The last one could have been a 50-50 game. It could have gone either way. Those were two incredible teams. What a great state championship match. That was awesome.''
Hayden's nail-biter in the title match came after the Wildcats rolled to a 25-18, 25-8 win over Paola in the semifinals.
The match began with both teams trading points until Hayden went on a 4-0 run to take a 10-6 lead, forcing a timeout by Paola. Hayden extended their lead over the remainder of the opening set, winning 25-18.
Hayden’s dominant play continued into the start of set two as they jumped out to a 12-5 lead, causing Paola to take its first timeout. Hayden continued with a 5-0 run, extending the lead to 17-5.
Excellent hitting was on display from Schmidtlein, sophomore Sophia Wichman and junior Mallory Tanking while sophomore setter Blakely Walter was flawless in setting up the Wildcat hitters.
Hayden closed out the semifinal match with a kill by Schmidtlein.
Saturday's runnerup finish followed a third-place state showing by the Wildcats in 2024 and Hayden returns a strong nucleus to build around next season.
EDITOR'S NOTE: TopSports.news contributor Charles Spurlock and KSHSAA Covered's Scott Paske contintributed to this story.
