Adrianna Larson, Newark top H-BR for 8th straight LTC Tournament title

NEWARK — Newark senior Adrianna Larson gave a shy smile and look of embarrassment to her teammates after one of her strong attacks hit the top of the net before trickling over for a kill during Saturday’s championship match of the 50th Little Ten Conference Tournament.

The next one, however, found nothing but open space in the middle of the Hinckley-Big Rock defense for match point.

The consecutive kills gave Larson 13 for the night and helped give the top-seeded Norsemen a 25-16, 25-15 victory over the No. 3-seeded Royals for an eighth straight title and 27th overall. Newark has now won 24 of the past 28 LTC Tournament championships.

“I actually don’t think any of us felt any pressure coming into tonight,” said Larson, who also posted eight digs. “We all know the history of what past [Newark] teams have done [in the LTC Tournament], but I think we all have confidence in what we can do and how we can play. I thought we played a pretty solid match, and it’s nice to keep the tradition and streak going.”

Newark (17-7) also received solid contributions from Addison Ness (six kills, four digs), Heather Buhle (five kills, six service points), Elle Norquist (five digs, three aces), Rylie Carlson (three kills) and setter Taylor Jeffers (25 assists).

“Taylor and I have a special connection and some of that is playing club volleyball together,” Larson said. “I know when she sets me the ball 99 of 100 times it’s going to be right where I want it and right where it needs to be. She rarely makes mistakes or bad decisions. ... I’m not sure if she had any tonight. She was really good.”

Hinckley-Big Rock (14-9), which hadn’t appeared in a title match at the event since 2011, was paced by four kills, an ace and four points from Courtlyn Brockway, as well as two kills from Hannah Liakas and a kill each from Raven Wagner and Cam Michalski.

“It had been 13 years since a Hinckley-Big Rock team had played for the championship of this tournament, so we were excited to have a chance to experience this,” H-BR coach Jessica Bivins said. “I thought we played well defensively, I thought we served pretty well, I thought we passed well, and I thought we hit the ball well. But the one thing we didn’t do well was block, and against Newark that is something you have to do well to stay with them.

“I felt like we put up a very good fight the entire match, but I feel the biggest key was we were just a half-second too slow on getting our second blocker to the outside when the ball was set that direction. That’s something we will continue to keep working on heading into the regionals.”

Newark held first set leads of 11-4 and 14-8, with Larson and Ness pounding down three kills each. The Royals closed to within 21-16 on a winning swing by Liakas, but Newark used two kills by Carlson and one by Olivia Smith to close it out.

Buhle smashed four kills and Jeffers served up an ace for a 6-0 start in the second set, but the Royals responded with a four-point serving run by Wagner, which included an ace.

From there, the Norsemen ran off seven of the next eight points, and then after the teams traded several points, closed out the night with the final five points, including a kill by Ness and the aforementioned final two points from Larson.

“This year’s team doesn’t get rattled,” Newark coach P.J. McKinney said. “I felt like we have a well-rounded team with girls that excel in multiple facets of the game, and I also think the team’s mental focus is always there. There were a couple times in the match where Hinckley-Big Rock started to get on a little bit of a roll, but every time that happened one of our girls would step up and make a good play with a serve or a swing.

“The game of volleyball is all about momentum. I felt like we did a good job of grabbing it early and then made H-BR really fight to take it from us.”