By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Hoxie High School freshman setter Terran Hoyt walked up to senior libero Sarah Farber shortly after the Indians' fourth-place finish in the Class 1A, Division I state tournament Saturday at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Both of them had tear-stained faces. The two exchanged hugs and a few words.

"She kind of just said to me, she is sorry that she couldn't have took me to where we wanted to be," Farber said. "I just kind of told her that it's not just her, it's all of us. We didn't play our game. We didn't play as hard as we do."

Hoxie fell short of its goal to win the first volleyball state championship in school history. The Indians, though, finished fourth for the fourth time since 2001, the only volleyball placings in that span. Hoxie didn't play its best and lost 25-11, 25-17 to Olpe in the semifinals. Then, the Indians fell 23-25, 25-12, 25-11 in the third-place match to Centralia. Hoxie finished 38-5.

"I can't say enough about our seniors and what they have done for our program in everything that they do," Indian coach Shelly Hoyt said. "They go out for everything and they do everything. This season was no different. We would have liked to end differently."

Olpe went on to win the championship against St. John, 32-30, 20-25, 25-22, the second-most points scored in a state tournament championship. Olpe won the Class 2A championship last year, while St. John was the defending Class 1A, Division I champ.

"We played Burlingame in our league tournament finals to 35 points, so 25 seems like barely started," Olpe coach Marilyn Stueve said. "Our league has helped us so much to prepare for this."

Against Olpe, Hoxie rarely led and had trouble against the Eagles' front line that included senior Janae Haag, a returning first team all-state outside hitter. Hoxie was out of sync most of the match and had trouble with errors.

"They served the ball really well," coach Hoyt said. "They have a really great player on the front line. We couldn't overcome it."

Coach Hoyt said she believed the team could beat the powerhouse Eagles. However, she was uncertain if the players believed. Farber agreed.

"I really do believe that we didn't give ourselves enough credit," Farber said. "I know if we would have gave ourselves that credit that we needed, it would have been a completely different outcome and we would have facing St. John."

Then, Hoxie suffered its second three-set loss in as many days to Centralia, a longtime power. Centralia went 4-1 and played three sets in all five matches.

"Everything that we ask them to do, we did in the first set, and then all of a sudden, we can't serve, we can't serve-receive," Hoyt said. "We are not double-blocking like we are supposed to. We are just making silly errors. They don't mean to mess up, but it was frustrating. It was really frustrating."

Afterward, Farber believed the Indians - the defending Class 1A, Division I basketball champions - wouldn't have the same ending this winter it faced Saturday.

"We have basketball coming up, and we are not going to do this type of stuff during then," Farber said.