The FHN boys volleyball team lost to the SLUH Jr. Billikens in the Class Four State Quarterfinals two games to zero. The match took place last Monday, May 19.

“The team, as a whole, could have done better,” senior Chris Rivera said. “I guess we were off our game because it was a Monday.”

Going in to the match, SLUH hitter Shawn Hughes was fourth in the conference in kills. The Knights had their own leader, though, in Adam Rogan, who led the state in assists prior to play. In addition to these statistical leaders, there was one large, ominous storyline that FHN would have to watch out for. The Thursday before the game, senior Lewis Stein rolled his ankle in their loss to Lafayette. Stein played against SLUH, but the injury may have held him back.

“I felt pretty good,” Stein said. “I’m definitely disappointed in the loss. I thought we played at our level, but it just wasn’t enough.”

The first game of the match began with a point for FHN off of an out-of-bounds hit by SLUH. At the first timeout, though, SLUH was in the midst of pulling away as they held the lead at 18-13. They had extended their lead to 22-14 before FHN called their second and final timeout. The Knights made a bit of a comeback, but the game ended on a penalty by Rogan and the Jr. Billikens won 25-17.

“We didn’t come out strong in the first game,” junior Scott Oppenborn remarked, “but we still felt like we could win, and we didn’t give up like we had.”

The second game began in the same way as the first: with a ball hit out-of-bounds by SLUH. The Jr. Billikens had built up a 14-11 lead before FHN began their run. The Knights’ outside hitters started to get the ball to drop, and they went on a 7-2 run. That made the score 18-16 in favor of the Knights, but the game didn’t end there. A few points later, SLUH called their first timeout after the FHN had climbed to a 20-18 lead. SLUH called their last timeout after two more points by North, and the Knights were just three points away from stealing a game.

The game still wasn’t over, though, as SLUH forced FHN to call their first timeout with a slim lead for the Knights at 23-22. SLUH came all the way back to tie the game at 24 and send it to a deuce. SLUH gained the lead at 26-25 before FHN called their final timeout. Even though the timeout was called, SLUH ended the game on the next serve with an ace.

“I thought we had a good chance,” Rogan said. “We didn’t pass well. We were just off our game and they put us out of our system.”

The match ended in favor of the Jr. Billikens, propelling them into the next round in a matchup against the CBC Cadets. The Knights, on the other hand, have run out of volleyball to play. Their season has ended, and the offseason has begun. They’re still focused on making it back to the tournament, but it’ll be difficult because more than half of their team is leaving for college.

“Now we’re focused on next season,” Oppenborn said. “Next season, we’re going to have to work on blocking, and we’ll have to rebuild after losing so many seniors.”