NORTH KANSAS CITY — Park Hill’s quest to repeat as district champions started with a hard fought two set victory over Oak Park on Monday, Oct. 28.
The Trojans won 25-12 and 25-16 in one of the opening-round games at North Kansas City High School. The victory vaulted third-seeded Park Hill into the semifinal showdown with Park Hill South on Tuesday, Oct. 29. The results were not available by press time.
Park Hill won the Class 4 District 16 title last year but got moved to the neighboring district — 15 — where its the No. 3 seed again.
“I think the bottom line anytime you are in the postseason you got to win, it doesn’t matter what it looks like tonight (Monday),” Park Hill coach Lindsay Hood said. “We had a losing record last year and no one thought we would do anything. We have played really good team all year long and we know how to battle through. They can be consistent and when we are, we are super consistent and then (at times) we kind of lack ability.”
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
Park Hill freshman Shaye Koski goes up for a kill against Oak Park during a game at the Class 4 District 15 tournament on Monday, Oct. 28 at North Kansas City High School.
There were flashes of both in both sets.
In the opening set the teams were tied at 8-8 before the Trojans (20-10-2) scored six of the next seven points to force a timeout by Oak Park (8-21). The timeout didn’t help the Lady Oakies and then when the lead grew to 19-11, another timeout was called.
Park Hill gave up only one other point to secure the opening set.
In the second set, Park Hill took an early lead but Oak Park rallied to force a tie at 11 and kept rolling to take a 14-11 lead.
Hood didn’t call a timeout and instead let her team right the ship. That method worked and the team forged a tie at 15-15. Park Hill followed that up by scoring 10 of the next 11 points.
“It’s a coaching feeling, they will pull it out,” Hood said. “I felt we were in a position and we knew what we needed to do, we weren’t doing it at that moment. We just needed to tightened it up.”
Park Hill had five different players with at least one kill, led by freshman Aisha Aiona with seven. The same attacking line also dominated the front line on defense.
Aiona had five blocks, while Aliyah Lyons and Kristen Birmingham had three blocks each.
Birmingham, Megan Hoover and Shaye Koski all had two aces for the Park Hill.
Birmingham, an Oklahoma commit, had 10 digs and Hoover added nine. Lyons finished with 10 assists.
Park Hill South 2, KC East 0
The Panthers won in two sets against the Bears, 25-2 and 25-4.
Stats were unavailable by press time due to server issues with MaxPreps.
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Park Hill South and Park Hill met once this season, with the Panthers winning 25-19 and 25-15 in Riverside. Park Hill had won four of the past six in the showdown, but prior to that South had won 17 in a row from 2009 to 2017.