Danny Hereford has been a dominant force on the Beloit Memorial boys volleyball team throughout his high school career.

So, it was only fitting that he would be the one to deliver a missile over the net in the fifth set for the match-winning point against Madison La Follette on senior night at Barkin Arena on Wednesday night.

Hereford didn’t have a lot of words to describe the night. He didn’t need to, the joy on his face said it all.

“It’s the last home game of my high school career,” he said. “I’m just happy we won, it was a really great game. This means everything. Everything.”

“We try to start strong,” Hereford said. “Otherwise you kind of get lost in your own head. Today, we did that and kept that momentum going on throughout the night. That’s what made us win.”

Beloit was one point away from going home with a sweep, but back-to-back kills from the Lancers and an attack error from the Knights helped Madison win the third set 26-24.

Set four was neck-and-neck once again, and the two teams were tied at 20 before the Lancers went on a 5-2 run to force a fifth set.

“Our serving really got us in that third set,” head coach Karlin West said. “We started making errors and not letting them make the errors and we just let that get through into the fourth set.”

The Knights had numerous serving errors throughout the night, and that is an aspect West said they focus on a lot.

“We practice getting the ball over and in, but not giving them a nice easy serve that they are just going to hit back at us,” she said. “That’s still one thing we struggle with.”

Beloit jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the deciding fifth set, with two aces from Kai Wong, before Hereford got the final points of the night to win it 15-9.

Hereford was not only a force on offense, but he dug several of the Lancer’s furious strikes to keep Beloit’s rallies going.

Hereford had a team-high 19 kills, and he was in a three-way tie for digs with Delgado and Wong.

While Hereford delivered the booming strikes, Wong had plenty of tip kills at the net to get the Knights crucial points. He finished with 17 kills.

“He’s been working a lot on the placement of his tips,” West said. “He had a few really nice hits with great placement, and he’s been working a lot on control. Not always getting the hardest hits, but placing it.”

The Knights now move to 2-3 in the Big Eight, and they have several tough road games ahead of them. But for now, West and her team will enjoy the last home victory for many of the players.

“This night is very special,” West said. “One thing that we’ve struggled with all season is finishing. Madison came back, but we were able to finish. They kept us on our toes for sure.”

Source: Beloit Daily News