With nine new players on the team this season, the only thing that screams veteran about Horizon is its coach.

So the last thing anybody expected from Horizon Tuesday was to play like a well-seasoned volleyball team down the stretch of each tightly contested game. To do so on the road against Centennial, a team that beat Horizon in three games on Oct. 9, also seemed out of the question.

But the postseason is a different beast, and executing during those final nerve-racking points in each game is now a must. On Tuesday, Horizon kept its composure, earning a trip to the Division I state quarterfinals in the process after defeating Centennial 26-24, 25-27, 25-23, 25-20.

“It’s fun to get in from the bottom up,” said Valorie McKenzie, the only girls volleyball coach Horizon has ever had.

Last year, the pressure was on McKenzie and the college-bound players on her team.

This year, Horizon flew under the radar, entering the state tournament as the No. 11 seed; Centennial was No. 6. But you can throw out Horizon’s seed now, because it will face its No. 1 rival, Xavier, the defending state champ, in the quarterfinals.

The only game in which Horizon never trailed Tuesday was the final game of the match. At the start of Game 4, the momentum was with Horizon thanks in part to a controversial call that was awarded to McKenzie’s team at the end of Game 3.

Horizon was leading 24-23 in the third game when the up official originally ruled that Centennial’s Sydney Lema’s kill went off a Horizon blocker. But after the up official conferred with the down official, it was ruled that Lema’s kill attempt only hit the net, giving Horizon the 25^th point and the game.

Centennial’s coaches weren’t pleased with the original call being overturned and losing Game 3 despite leading 19-11 and 23-18 in that game. Centennial had seven total chances to close out the first two games but could only do it once.

That came in the second game, when Centennial crushed a couple of sets to close out Game 2. In the first game, Centennial led 24-21, but that’s when the its passing started to let the team down, allowing outside hitter Lauren Brown and middle blocker Megan Block to capitalize on those mistakes.

Brown and outside hitter Erin Clark put away sets from Horizon’s leader, setter Jordan Anderson, in key moments in the match. Despite the loss, Centennial also played well.

Makenna Schmitt made the home fans and teammates hoot and holler whenever the middle blocker crushed an errant Horizon pass for a point.

Kate Delapiedra was involved in most of the big blocks Centennial made in the match.

Lema, an outside hitter, showed off her strength on the left side.    

And setter Hillary Hoffpauir kept her team in the match, making a couple of impressive one-handed sets along the way. But only Horizon will continue to play.

“At the beginning of the year they were all new,” said McKenzie about her team. “They didn’t know each other. We practice (how to finish games), and they had to learn to believe in themselves and in each other, which is what they are doing right now. It’s (about) trust, and they had to build that trust.”