Girls volleyball: Harvest Christian claims Hampshire tournament title

Revenge is sweet.

Just ask Harvest Christian girls volleyball coach Mike Bui.

After dropping a hard-fought pool play match in 3 sets to Richmond-Burton, the Lions avenged the setback with a 17-25, 25-18, 15-12 win over the Rockets to claim the championship of Saturday's Hampshire Invitational.

Harvest (16-7), the smallest school (179 students) in the field, played most of the title match without senior setter Hannah Murray, who suffered a concussion late in the first game.

'We were really stunned after Hannah's injury," said Bui. "We were able to regroup after the first game and played for Hannah in the last two games. We made some adjustments from the earlier match against (Richmond) and played with a lot more aggressiveness. This was a great win against a very good Richmond-Burton team."

Splitting the first 2 games, R-B came out determined to win the game and match, jumping out to a 6-2 lead after an ace by Cameron Bayer.

Harvest refused to quit and ran off 4 straight points capped by a kill from Amanda Cassidy to tie the game at 6-6. With the pivotal game tied at 12, South Carolina recruit senior Mikayla Robinson registered 3 straight kills to give the Lions the game, match and the championship.

Robinson paced HCA with 16 kills and 3 blocks.

"We really rallied as a team after Hannah got hurt," said Robinson. "We stayed aggressive and I am really excited that we won this tournament."

Cassidy added 12 kills with 3 aces for the winners while setter Kaitlin Murray collected 20 assists.

Hampshire avenged an earlier loss to Burlington Central and claimed third place with a 20-25, 25-16, 15-5 victory over the Rockets.

The Whip Purs (7-9), who beat South Elgin and Woodstock in pool play action, lost to Richmond-Burton 25-20, 25-20 in the championship bracket semifinal bracket.

"We played tired in the first match against Burlington, but came back with a lot of energy and fire the second time we played them," said Hampshire coach Lauren Jensen. "It was a really good way to end the day."

South Elgin (9-8-2), which went 1-2 in pool play, fought back to win 2 matches and claim the consolation title with a 25-20, 25-20 win over Sycamore.

Taylor Hankins paced the Storm with 11 kills and 3 aces.

"I told the girls before the last match to play their best volleyball of the day," said South Elgin coach Joni Plach, 'They did. We played with a lot of energy and this was a big win for us. With a lot of good teams, it is nice to go 3-2 for the day."