Holden senior Crystal Tanksley makes a play on the ball during last week's district volleyball title match. Tanksley is one of three senior starters the Lady Eagles will have to replace next fall. (Chris Eversole photo)

EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. -- Holden’s volleyball team lost to O’Hara 25-10, 25-16 in Saturday’s Class 3 sectional at Excelsior Springs. But Holden coach Julie Carver sees no reason to focus on that brief and bitter moment. She'll remember the team that compiled a 26-5-3 record and continued a long-standing tradition of success.

“I don’t want the loss to O’Hara to blur the successful season that we had,” Carver said. “That’s a great season. There are a lot of teams that would take that season and those accomplishments that we had. The kids work hard during the off-season to be there in the mix, and I expect us to be right there again next year. I don’t expect there to be a drop-off.”

Carver said the Lady Eagles never found a rhythm in the first game versus the Celtics, the defending Class 3 state champion. Although Holden played a stronger second game, O’Hara pulled away late.

“We let them control the tempo of the game,” Carver said. “They kept us out of our offense, and we didn’t take advantage of a couple of opportunities that they did give us.”

O’Hara also eliminated Holden en route to the state title last season (in the quarterfinal round) and Carver suggested that the Lady Eagles might have fallen to the eventual state champion once again. O’Hara advanced to the Class 3 final four with a 23-25, 25-12, 25-12 victory over St. Pius X in Saturday’s quarterfinal.

“They have their setter and their two middle hitters back from last year, which are the core of their team,” Carver said.

“They set their middles almost every time, but their middles can hit from almost anywhere. They serve tough, that keeps you out of your offense, and they just keep pounding at you.”

Kelsey Carver led Holden with eight kills versus O’Hara and Kelsey Holmes added five. Jill Hutchings led the team with 20 serves received, Holmes had two aces, Crystal Tanksley had 16 assists and Morgan Schuette four blocks.

Hutchings, a two-time all-state player at libero, recently received an invitation to play in the Missouri-Kansas All-Star match, scheduled for Nov. 15 at Avila University.

She is one of three senior starters who will graduate in the spring.

“Jill’s been a starter since her freshman year,” Carver said. “We hope we’ve got Karley Kilgore there ready to step in. She’s going to be tough to replace.”

Also graduating are right side hitter Kelsey Whitehead and Tanksley, the setter.

“Kelsey Whitehead she does a good job attacking from the right side and that was a weapon. A lot of teams aren’t used to someone hitting that hard from the right side,” Carver said.

“Anytime you run a 5-1 offense and you lose your setter, that’s a hole. Crystal did a nice job for us this year.”