Revamped Fillmore Central volleyball team primed for state tournament
HARMONY — About halfway into this season, the Fillmore Central volleyball team was looking nothing like an eventual state tournament team.
The Falcons were struggling, at one point losers of six straight matches.
Change was in order and Fillmore Central coach Travis Malley made sure to make some.
"It was a little bit rough in the middle of the year," Malley said. "We weren't playing as well as we knew we could play. So we made some changes. I felt like the players that we had should be doing better. We were under .500, so we had to do some things."
The changes — which were initiated after Sept. 21 following a rough tournament for Fillmore Central — were almost too many to name, but included moving a couple of freshmen into the starting lineup and switching standout junior Kyla Hellickson from libero to outside hitter.
Add in a few more position switches, and it was suddenly like Fillmore Central had a new team.
It's the one that No. 2-ranked Mabel-Canton had to go up against Saturday in the Section 1, Class 1A championship match. And it's the one that impressed the heck out of Mabel-Canton Hall of Fame coach Lonnie Morken, the Falcons stunning the Cougars en route to winning 25-21, 12-25, 25-12, 25-23.
"They completely revamped their lineup since early in the season," Morken said. "They have so many options in bringing in the new kids. Hats off to them. They did great and are going to do really well at state because they have so many weapons."
Yes, the state tournament is next for Fillmore Central. For the first time since 2013, the Falcons are headed there. They will bring with them an incredibly deceiving 17-15 record. The deception is in how much better they played the second half of the season, and the stiff competition they received in the Class 2A-heavy Three Rivers Conference.
Since Oct. 1, they have gone 9-4, much of that competition against Class 2A and 3A teams.
"Our team is playing together more," said Malley, who has big hitters in tall freshman Katelyn Scheevel, as well as fellow freshman Maddie Zwart, both of them middle hitters. They also have a star in Hellickson and an entire team that is playing lights-out defense. "When a team goes on a run against us, we can withstand that better. I think when you start winning, you have more confidence."
Hellickson believes her team is in the perfect frame of mind for the state tournament. Beating No. 2-ranked Mabel-Canton furthered that, but the good feelings have been going on for a while.
The junior believes her team can make a run.
"I think we are going up there with a lot of confidence," Hellickson said. "I don't think the big stage that we will be playing on will affect us. I mean, we're a good team. We deserve to be there."
Things certainly went well for Fillmore Central the one and only other time it reached the state tournament. That was in 2013 when the Falcons finished as state runner-ups.
