By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek volleyball team was unable to defend its 2002 championship during Saturday’s Central Lyon Tournament in Rock Rapids, Iowa.The Patriots went 3-1 and placed second in a nine-team field, but the fact that H-BC was unable to repeat as event champion didn’t sit well with the players or with H-BC coach Curt Doorneweerd."Second place is pretty good, but it kind of was a disappointment for us," Doorneweerd said. "We thought this was a tournament we could have and should have won. But, second place is second place. There were seven other teams that would have liked to finish where we did."H-BC opened the event by losing a 21-18 decision to Canton in the first game of the day before battling back to post 21-15 and 15-7 wins to take the match.Erin Boeve recorded 20 kills and 11 blocks in the opener, while Cassi Tilstra added 12 kills. Diedre Vanden Bussche was nine of nine serving with two aces.The Patriots swept George-Little Rock in two games by identical 21-10 scores in the second round to complete pool play with a 2-0 record.Serving success by Boeve (eight of nine with five aces), Brittney Rozeboom (eight of nine with two aces), Tilstra (seven of seven) and Melinda Sandstede (five of five) highlighted the win over G-LR.The Patriots ran into eventual tournament champion West Sioux in the championship round and dropped 23-21 and 21-19 games.Boeve had 11 kills and five blocks during H-BC’s lone loss of the tournament.After losing a 21-10 decision in Game 1 against West Lyon in the finale, the Patriots rallied to nail down 21-17 and 15-11 wins to wrap up second place.Boeve had 23 kills and 10 blocks against the host team, while Tilstra added four kills. Rozeboom (10 of 11 with one ace), Kelly Mulder (eight of eight with two aces) and Amber Olson (five of five with two aces) served well against the Lions.
