OMAHA, Neb. — Sidney Hilley started the Professional Volleyball Federation playoffs on the bench.
By Saturday afternoon, the Omaha setter was celebrating the championship and being named the Most Valuable Player for helping the Supernovas sweep Grand Rapids with a 25-13, 26-24, 25-22 victory at CHI Health Center. It was.
Throughout the season, Hilly rotated setter with Natalia Valentin Anderson. She played 68 sets to Valentin Anderson's 57. Before the semifinals, Hilly had not played in the previous three games, all of which Omaha won.
Hilly said playing arrangements were difficult because he didn't know how much he would play each game. But her fears eased thanks to the love she shared with Valentin Anderson and her compassion.
“Of course I don't want to be on the bench. Nobody on the bench wants to be on the bench. But I just wanted to give her the best and be ready for anything that could happen. '' Hilley said. “I was going to come in and the team had a lot of faith in me and allowed me to play freely. I came back on Wednesday and started this game and finished it with a bang. I'm very proud of the way we did it. It was amazing.”
In the semifinals, Hilly entered the match trailing 6-0 in the second set after Omaha dropped the first set. The Supernovas were unable to overcome an early deficit, but with Hilly controlling the offense, Omaha (19-7) completed a come-from-behind sweep and qualified for the championship.
The former Wisconsin Badger continued his good form in the finals, hitting .615 for Omaha in the first set and .342 for the match. Hilly had 46 assists and 19 digs in the semifinals and finished with 40 assists and one block.
After Hilly delivered the win on Wednesday, Omaha coach Laura “Bird” Kuhn was enthusiastic about the setter, following the same decision-making process she has used all year.
“The rhythm part, she obviously had a great game Wednesday night,” Kuhn said. “So, you continue with it, especially the way we were playing. The last two weeks we only had a day or two off. So if we were going to opt for the switch, we just stuck with it. It's seamless. They're two completely different players, but it's a seamless transition and when they have a rhythm, we go with it.”
The first set was the Omaha clinic.
Outside hitter Brooke Nuneviller had six kills on 10 swings. On the other side, Stephanie Samedi made all four attempts, while Betty Dela Cruz and middle blocker Ristina Vuchkova each had a perfect 3/3.
By the time Delacruz homered the final point of the first set, the Supernova had 17 kills on 26 swings and committed just one error.
In the game, Samedi and Delacruz, who joined the team on April 19, each had a match-high 13 kills, while Nuneviller added 12 kills and 15 digs. Vucikova had seven kills and three blocks, and Tori Dixon had five kills and two blocks.
Grand Rapids (13-13) regrouped and kept the second set close. Rise looked poised to take the set, taking a 23-21 lead on an ace from setter Ashley Evans.
However, Supernovas got the next three points on Samedi's back row finish, and Delacruz had two more kills. Although the Grand Rapids challenge was successful and Omaha was unable to win the set, Omaha won the next two rallies to take the set.
Claire Chausse and Emilia Dimitrova led Rise with 12 kills each. No other Grand Rapids native had more than four kills, and he struggled to deal with Omaha's serving and stay in his system.
“We're not where we wanted to be, but I'm very proud of our team and what we've done all year to get us in this position tonight in the championship game.” said Grand Rapids coach Kathy George. “Even though things didn’t go our way today, I thought Supernova played very well from the beginning.”
Omaha never trailed in the third set, but Rise closed to 22-21 and Omaha won back-to-back points to earn championship points. Chausse scored a kill on the next rally, but Rise's subsequent serve went wide, and the victory celebration began.
The supernovas wore commemorative shirts and hats and hugged each other with tears streaming down their faces. Valentin Anderson and Sophie Davis poured buckets of water on Kuhn, who was promoted to head coach two games into the season after the Supernovas fired Shelton Collier. She didn't know whether the bucket contained confetti or water until it was too late, she said.
“I was dodging them, but then I was like, 'Wait a minute,' and I was about to look. They're not going to just throw this on Terraflex,” she said. “They did. It was those two guys who set up the ambush.”
PVF CEO Jen Spischer presented the team with a trophy and an oversized novelty check worth $1 million.
In the postgame press conference, Omaha's players said they had no idea how they planned to spend the money they received. Kuhn said he didn't let anyone think about the prize money because he didn't want to get ahead of himself. Nuneviller said he'll probably put it into savings.
“If it weren't for $1 million, we'd be just as excited right now,” Hilley said. “We're going to approach it the same way. It's like a nice little bonus.”
Omaha was buoyed by playing in front of 10,678 home fans. This was the seventh time this season that the Supernovas drew more than 10,000 fans to a game.
“We're just so grateful to be in a situation where they love volleyball so much and want to come and support us,” Nuneviler said. “It was a really great environment and a great place to play. The fact that we were able to do it in the playoffs, for them to be able to experience that with us is really special.”
