The Arlington Eagles' 7-22 season ended Monday during the Class C1 Subdistrict 3 Volleyball Tournament at Ashland-Greenwood Middle School.
Third-seeded Douglas County West beat coach Erin Stosich's sixth-seeded team, 3-0.
“Honestly, as weird as people might think it is, I'm proud,” the coach said. “I'm proud of our season.”
The Eagles won three matches combined during the 2022 and 2023 campaigns before the 2024 squad earned seven victories, including four- and five-set wins against Schuyler and Logan View/Scribner-Snyder.
“We had some really, really good moments,” Stosich said. “Yeah, we had some iffy moments and games that we can sit here all day and say we could-of should-of won them, but, ultimately, I'm proud of the girls. Everybody fought.”
That fight made an appearance during Monday's match as AHS took a 6-2 lead against the Falcons to start. Senior Peyton Timm notched back-to-back ace serves at 4-2 and 5-2 before junior Macy Wolf dunked the ball at the net for the four-point advantage.
DC West battled back, though, and — despite an Eagle kill by Rylie Kyllo at 7-7 — took a commanding lead on the way to a 25-13 first-set victory.
Stosich said Arlington emphasized its block leading into the match, but had success with it too infrequently as the Falcons attacked. The Eagles also continued their season-long work with defensive communication going into the postseason.
“You can tell when we're communicating and you can tell when we're not communicating,” the coach said. “It just makes a huge difference.”
Senior Kaylie Herman notched a late AHS kill during the second set, too, but DC West won it 25-13 again for a 2-0 lead. The Falcons' Amelia North celebrated her 1,200th career set assist as her team built it.
The Eagles were on the verge of what was, arguably, their best set of the match, though. They even earned a 14-13 lead during the third as Wolf and Hayley Arp had kills early on. Addilyn Hilgenkamp helped push her team over the top, however, with a long serve streak.
On a key rally during the positive push for Arlington, Mylee Hadan made an athletic dig, getting the ball to Wolf who punched it over the net just in time to keep play alive.
The teams played to an 18-all match before the Falcons scored the next seven points for a 25-18 set win and match victory.
In defeat, Coach Stosich noted the contributions of her five seniors. Timm and Herman were long-time contributors in the Eagles' program through all of its ups and downs.
“Those two, they play a lot of volleyball and they know the game,” Stosich said. “They just are fighters.”
Callee Shearer, meanwhile, stepped up and earned more playing time as the season went along, supplying “great” defensive according to the coach.
Jodi Jones made the floor and contributed defensively most nights, too, while Evie Walkenhorst stepped in and served when called upon — even on short notice.
Collectively, the Arlington 12th-grader's leadership will be missed, Stosich said, but she is optimistic about the leaders she'll have coming back for the Eagles' next volleyball campaign. The new team will need to continue what the 2024 team started — building toward more wins with confidence.
“We had a better winning attitude or, like, a better belief that we could win,” Stosich said. “But, we still need to push further. We still need to get a winning mindset all of the time. Not just some of the time.”
AHS VOLLEYBALL LINE SCORE
Monday
Douglas County West 3, Arlington 0
AHS (7-22) 13 13 18 — 0
DCW (17-12) 25 25 25 — 3
