Auburn Riverside volleyball drops nail-biter in season opener

The Heidi Hillis era of Auburn Riverside volleyball has begun with a flair for the dramatic as the Ravens (0-1) dropped their season opener in five sets to the Sumner Spartans (1-0) on Sept. 9 at Auburn Riverside.

After ten seasons of Mike Tienda at the helm, he moved up to the college ranks at Highline College, opening up the Raven Head Coach position. Hillis came in and has now officially gotten her feet wet in her first regular season match as the head coach of her alma mater.

“Of course you want to get the win in your first game. I think we had opportunities to do that which was tough, but we told the girls it was a great battle. You can’t be mad about going that deep into a game and going to five sets,” Hillis said.

“It’ll help us going forward.”

A five set loss is a tough pill to swallow for the Ravens, who took Sumner to the brink in that fifth set even having a match point on three points in a row in that fifth set. But the Spartans took set five and the match winning 19-17 in that final battle.

The first match of the season brought out supporters like Auburn Riverside hadn’t seen in a while. Tienda did a great job getting students involved, but it kicked up another gear on Tuesday night and the players felt it.

“Getting back on the court with the team and a student section that actually showed up, was so fun. We pushed so hard and gave literally 110 percent,” senior pin Kate Danielson said.

Auburn Riverside rode that momentum to a first set win and had their best finish of a set all night. The Ravens proceeded to win the first point of every single set they played on Tuesday, but just couldn’t keep that momentum the entire set.

“I feel like we had good conversations in out timeouts and in between sets and they came out re-energized. I think we just struggled maintaining that energy and confidence we came out with. That’s something we need to work on in practice, having that energy and tenacity,” Hillis said.

The next two sets went the way of Sumner, and both played out almost exactly the same way.

“We started off really strong and in the middle just let two or three balls drop on serve and receive which kind of screwed everything up. But we were able to come back and fight and now we know we literally cannot have that happen,” Danielson said.

Sets two and three would play out as follows. The Ravens would take an early lead, find a little separation. But around the 16-point mark, Auburn Riverside just looked like they ran out of gas. The Spartans would go on a short three to four point run and the Ravens would have no answer and just couldn’t swing momentum back.

There were still improvements that Hillis saw her side make, including a fourth set comeback and win.

Set four appeared to be one of those moments instead of faltering late, there was a resurgence from Hillis’ squad.

“I do think we got better and by the end of the game we were a different team. As much as I think we could have won that game, I think we grew in areas we needed to grow in and are better for it,” Hillis said.

The spark was provided by the senior Danielson, who on the court has a fierce kill and can put points away at will.

“She’s obviously a physical leader, but also communication wise, verbally and mentally a great leader for the girl. She stepped into that role beautifully and always someone we can look to and go to on the court,” Hillis said.

“She doesn’t dwell on her mistakes so I think in that sense she’s such a great mental leader for the girls. She puts the team on her back well.”

Danielson’s effort helped push the Ravens to a fourth set win, giving them momentum heading into the fifth and final set. “I felt a total energy change, holy crap. Everyone was so hyped and we conditioned so hard for this. We were having every body hit the floor every ball up, put them down. It is our home gym, we wanted it so badly,” Danielson said.

In that fifth set, Auburn Riverside jumped out to a 3-0 and eventual 5-2 lead. But Sumner would then draw level at 10-10 and the two sides couldn’t be separated. A fifth set usually just goes to 15 points, Sumner eventually won that fifth set 19-17.

The Ravens will search for their first win again on Sept. 15 as they host Graham-Kapowsin with the first serve beginning at 7:15 p.m.