HERMANN — Hermann volleyball is headed back to State after taking down the Licking Lady Wildcats on the road in the Class 2 State quarterfinals Saturday, Nov. 2, three-sets-to-none by the scores of 25-18, 25-22, and 25-18.

Despite not losing a set to Licking, Hermann was well-matched with the Lady Wildcats and needed long volleys and hard fought wins in each set to punch their ticket to Cape Girardeau.

As with their previous games of the playoffs so far, it was a focus on serving and passing that Hermann’s head coach Tess Schannuth believed helped carry them to victory.

“We have been working on serving and passing the majority of our practices the last couple of days so that we are as effective as possible,” Schannuth said. “You can always have great hitters, but if you can’t pass then you can’t do much after that.”

The Lady Bearcats got some help from the serving of their junior setter Jaelee Kahler after falling behind early in the first set and were able to rally for a five-point run to turn a two-point deficit into an 8-5 lead, prompting Licking to use their first timeout of the game to try and slow their momentum.

Hermann was not to be denied, however, and outscored the Lady Wildcats by an additional four points the rest of the way to take the first set, 25-18.

Their middle hitting and outside hitting both performed well in the game while Hermann also exerted a strong net-front presence that included nine blocks in the game, five of which came from junior middle blocker Jillian Frederick.

While their strong play carried them over the line in the first set, it was their ability to adjust and their resilience that got them through a more fraught second set.

After rolling over Licking to a commanding 15-6 lead, Hermann allowed their opponents to get back into the game as the Lady Wildcats made them pay for every miscue, eventually forcing Hermann to call a timeout after giving up a 10-4 run and seeing their lead trimmed to 19-16.

Licking continued to press and eventually tied things up at 20 before the Lady Bearcats collected themselves and closed out the set by outscoring their opponents 5-2 with much cleaner play and better communication for the 25-22 win.

Hermann succeeded in staving off Licking’s furious comeback attempt and seemed to suck the air out of the room heading into the game’s third set, a feeling that only grew stronger once the Lady Bearcats’ Kealie Lane served her team to a 10-0 lead to start off the set.

Licking did manage a bit of a late push, but after falling behind 19-8 it was far too little too late as Hermann coasted on their hot start to a 25-18 win to take the game and keep their season alive.

Apart from their work on serving and passing, coach Schannuth credited their success against Licking to her team’s ability to communicate and make on-court adjustments to exploit their opponents’ weaknesses.

“Their defense moved very, very well and we were able to hear our back row players tell our hitters where to swing and they listened and made those adjustments,” she said. “It was on the fly, I’m very happy with that.”

However, looking ahead to the Final Four in Cape Girardeau, Schannuth pointed to their difficulties with allowing other teams to rattle off long runs as something that will need to be addressed in order for Hermann to bring home their 15th State title.

“Just being consistent,” Schannuth said of what they would need to do moving forward, “One thing we struggled with tonight [against Licking] was getting a long run and then letting them come back and get their own runs. We are not going to do as well if we can’t terminate immediately and continue our runs rather than letting them continue theirs.”

Leading her team in kills for Hermann was junior middle blocker Ashlyn Hughes who had 11 kills in 21 attempts, followed by senior outside hitter Sydney Schulte with eight. Frederick recorded five kills in addition to her five blocks.

Kahler had team leading numbers with five serving aces and 25 assists. In all, Hermann had 12 aces on 76 serves.

Hermann will now head to the Class 2 State FInal Four where they will face the defending State champions Fair Grove Eagles in the semifinals. The Eagles enter the semifinals with an undefeated record of 39-0 compared to the Lady Bearcats’ record of 19-15.

The other two teams in the Final Four are the Bishop LeBlond Golden Eagles and the St. Vincent Lady Indians.

Hermann’s game against Fair Grove will take place on Friday, Nov. 8, at the Show-Me Center in Cape Girardeau at 8 p.m.

If they defeat Fair Grove, they will play in the title game on Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Show-Me Center at 4 p.m., and if they lose they will play in the third-place game in the same location on Saturday at 2 p.m.