Baldwin City ? For the first time in 10 years, Baldwin High is heading to the volleyball state tournament.

The Bulldogs defeated Perry-Lecompton, Osawatomie and Santa Fe Trail at sub-state to earn a bid to the Class 4A Division II tournament in Salina at the Bicentennial Center.

“I felt very relieved,” senior Jordan Hoffman said. “We’ve been playing for nine years, so to finally make it for our last year to state is quite a big deal.”

Baldwin, 27-11, has caught fire at the right time after going through a rough patch in mid-September.

“Our home tournament, we had a pretty rough tournament,” coach Jill Brown said. “We lost four matches that day, so almost half our matches we lost that day.”

The Bulldogs came in as the favorite to win the sub-state at Perry-Lecompton, with the three other schools owning sub-.500 records.

Brown was pleased to see that the Bulldogs did not let their nerves get to them whenever they needed to come up with a big point.

“Sub-state is tough because it’s one and done. If you lose, you’re done, so there’s a lot of pressure,” Brown said. “We didn’t play really well to start off, but it’s because I think we were too fired up.”

BHS enters the state tournament Friday in Salina as the No. 3 seed. The Bulldogs will play three matches in pool play to try to advance to the semifinals Saturday.

Seniors Hoffman, Corey Valentine and Alexia Stein present a tall and experience front line.

“We’re very tall,” Hoffman said. “I feel like we’re intimidating just looking at us.”

Brown said that the Bulldogs’ passing will be critical in order to be in good position for kills.

“We have two middles. Corey’s a setter, and Jordan and Alexia are middle hitters,” Brown said. “They’re both really strong, 300-hitting efficiency type hitters. So if we pass well, we can get the ball to them. If we’re not passing well, we can’t go to our middles.”

Baldwin High’s confidence is at an all-time high going into Friday, and Valentine said that the Bulldogs will do just fine this weekend if they just stick to their routine.

“One of the things that we say all of the time is, ‘play our game,'” Valentine said. “Play like we know we are capable of playing and maintain that level.”

The Bulldogs will take on No. 6 Hoyt-Royal Valley at 9:30 a.m., No. 7 Hays Thomas Moore Prep-Marian at 11:30 a.m. and No. 2 Holcomb at 1:30 p.m. The teams with the top two records out of pool play will go on to the semifinals.

Other area action

De Soto High, 29-10, will compete in the Class 4A Division I state tournament, which is also taking place Friday and Saturday in Salina. The Wildcats are the No. 6 seed, and will play No. 3 Andale at 4:30 p.m., No. 2 McPherson at 5:30 p.m. and No. 7 Louisburg at 7:30 p.m.