There was a celebration at Hills-Beaver Creek High School Tuesday night.

One year after putting together a three-win campaign, the Patriot volleyball team opened the 2010 season by shocking fans with a 3-1 win over Luverne in Hills.

In what was a tightly-contested battle between two evenly-matched teams, it was H-BC’s experience that proved to be the difference.

With six seniors in the starting lineup, the battle-tested Patriots withstood every challenge LHS had to offer during a two-hour showdown of Rock County teams.

“Our girls did a nice job of hanging in there,” said Patriot coach Mary Jo Graphenteen.

“We didn’t panic on the floor, and we took advantage of some of the things Luverne was giving us. We just had a couple more runs than they did.”

After Santana Wysong served the Patriots to a 3-0 lead in the opening set, Luverne rallied to move in front 6-3 when Gretchen Nowatzki delivered an ace serve.

The Patriots battled back to regain the lead at 10-9 when Jayme Plimpton recorded a service point, but Luverne moved in front 15-13 when Nowatzki served a point.

H-BC countered with a 5-0 surge ending with Brooke Tilstra serving a point to give the hosts an 18-15 cushion. Leading 21-18 later in the game, H-BC went on a 4-1 surge to secure a 25-19 win when Natalie Stueven served the final point of the set.

Luverne evened the match by posting a 25-16 victory in the second set.

After Wysong served a point to give the Patriots a 4-0 cushion, LHS put together a 10-3 run ending with an ace serve from Cheyenne Hemme to open a 10-7 lead.

H-BC regained the lead at 12-11 when Taylor Vaughn served a point, but the Cards scored seven of the next nine points to open an 18-15 lead when Katlyn Sawtelle served a point.

LHS went on to outscore H-BC 7-1 the rest of the set to prevail 25-16 when Chelsea Curtis delivered a set-ending kill.

Both teams sported two-point leads early in the third set before H-BC opened a four-point cushion (11-7) when Tilstra registered a kill.

Luverne fought back to sport a 17-16 edge when Curtis registered an ace tip, and the score was knotted at 20 moments later.

H-BC scored the next three points to lead 23-20 when Vaughn served a point, but an ace tip by Sawtelle trimmed H-BC’s lead to two points (24-22).

Plimpton countered for H-BC by registering an ace tip to give the Patriots a 25-23 win.

After trailing by two points early in the fourth set, Luverne moved in front 6-3 when Amanda Oeltjenbruns recorded a kill.

H-BC answered the challenge by mounting a 17-run ending with a kill by Plimpton to open a 20-11 advantage.

Luverne trimmed the difference to three points (20-17) after Oeltjenbruns registered an ace tip.

H-BC, however, scored five of the next seven points to put the match away with a 25-19 victory.

Plimpton (nine digs, four kills and 16 of 17 serving with three aces), Tilstra (16 of 16 serving with four aces) and Paige Leuthold (10 of 10 serving with four aces) led the Patriots to victory.

Wysong (eight kills) and Vaughn (17 set assists) also played well for H-BC.

Sawtelle (12 kills and three blocks), Nowatzki (eight digs, eight ace serves and 14 set assists) and Curtis (nine digs and three kills) paced the 0-2 Cards.

Oeltjenbruns (six kills), Ashley Dohlman (two blocks) and Nicole Johnson (18 digs) made contributions to Luverne’s cause.

H-BC returns to action Tuesday when it  takes on Round-Brewster in Round Lake.