HOLCOMB, Mo. -- Advance coach Erin Hoffman entered Saturday's Class 1 state playoff a bit nervous her squad faced the task of beating two teams for a third time this season if they wanted to reach the Class 1 final four.
"I know it may sound cliche but it's difficult to beat the same team three times in a season so I was a little nervous coming into today," Hoffman said. "But my girls just kept telling me, 'Coach don't worry about it.' So I was like 'OK.'"
Hoffman's players backed up their reassurances with a pair of straight-set victories. Advance beat Valle Catholic 25-12, 25-17 in a Class 1 sectional before outlasting nearby conference rival Bernie 25-21, 25-17 in a Class 1 quarterfinal.
"We beat two very good teams today," Hoffman said. "One of our goals was to go out and take charge from the beginning. Most of the year we would do it one set but not the next. But today they went out there and took charge early."
Bernie made things interesting late in the first set when it cut a 21-14 deficit as close 22-19 but was unable to get closer.
"Honestly, we should have won the first set," Bernie coach Jason Long said. "Nobody will convince me otherwise. We just made a few too many mistakes and Advance is really good. We were not intimidated or scared. We believed we could beat them. We just didn't play well enough to beat them and that happens."
Advance's Roslyn Schrader, who finished with a team-high 11 kills, set the tone early in the second set as she recorded five of her team's first 11 points on kills. The offensive power helped Advance build an early 11-6 lead. Bernie cut the deficit as close as 17-15 but Advance followed with the next four points to pad its lead to 21-15 and led by at least five points the rest of the way.
"They are very good at the net," Long said. "I feel like we are pretty good at the net for a Class 1 school. But they have multiple girls that are explosive at the net and it creates a matchup problem."
The Mules actually finished with three more kills than Advance but struggled to hit around a strong block at the net as they committed 12 attack errors.
Bernie, which beat Holcomb 25-6, 25-19 in its Class 1 sectional earlier Saturday afternoon, graduates five seniors off a squad that finishes its season with a record of 21-9-5.
It is the first time since 1983 Advance (33-2-1) has advanced to the final four in volleyball.