With a new coach and just two seniors, the Hoisington Cardinals will make a return trip to the Class 3A state volleyball tournament.
The Lady Cardinals were the state runners up one year ago, but came into Saturday's as the number two seed behind a very strong Holcomb team.
The two teams traded jabs early in the first set. But after being tied at 10 the Lady Cars were able to put some distance on the Lady Longhorns, eventually taking the first set 25-15.
The second set would be epic. Hoisington jumped out to an early lead 6 point lead. But Holcomb would battle back and eventually tie the match at 17. That is when things got good. The two would trade points, neither one willing to relent.
They would be tied at 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, and 29. Each time the Lady Cards would go up by one, they could not get the match winning point. The Lady Longhorns had their chance at match point when they went up 30-29, but Hoisington was able to tie it up again.
After that, Hoisington was finally able to get the final two points of the match, giving them the sub-state championship 25-15, 32-30 over Holcomb.
"We started of strong like we has planned on," said first year Hoisington head coach Jon Bingesser. "We gave them six points in a row, but we stopped them and we were able to overcome there at the end."
