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Ten Heritage seniors walked off the court for the last time Saturday thanks to a 3-1 defeat by Sandy Creek in the Elite 8 of the AAAA volleyball state championships.

Sandy Creek defeated Heritage convincingly in most of the match, winning 25-9, 21-25, 25-8, 25-16, but with his season completed Heritage coach David Buddenbaum didn’t dwell on one match but reflected on a successful season.

“The last game is not the deciding factor in a season,” Buddenbaum said. “It just so happens to be the last game. You don’t judge a team by the last game, you look at the season as a whole.”

The 2009 Heritage team won 40 games, losing just nine  -- its fewest losses ever (the next fewest was a 23-16 season in 1998 and won back-to-back Region AAAA-8 championships).

“We had a successful season,” Buddenbaum said. “We did all the things we waned to. Our goal was to win a lot of matches, and we won 40. Our goal was to win the region and we did that, and our goal was to advance in the state playoffs and we went two rounds”

One of the few weak areas of Heritage’s season was starting a little flat against strong teams, and Saturday was no exception.

Sandy Creek jumped out to an 8-2 lead in game one, and the game didn’t improve much for Heritage, as they trailed by as much as 18-4.

“It was the fourth time we played a good team and all four times we came out flat.” Buddenbaum said. “The speed and emotion of it caught us off guard and as a result we came out flat.”

Sandy Creek had a successful service attack throughout the match. Freshman outside hitter Allie Davenport sparked six straight points off her serve in the first game and served for five points in the third.

“The big difference was not only their hitting, but they served us well.” Buddenbaum said. “ If you can’t serve-receive, you can’t win at this level.”

Heritage solved some of those serve receiving woes in second game, and used a strong attack from Mikayla Charles to tie the match.

Charles had a kill and a block as Heritage broke a 20-20 tie to take a 23-20 lead in the second game.

Charles finished the match with eight kills, and senior Taylor Bailey also had eight for Heritage.

“They got good blocking and we didn’t do much to alleviate that,” Buddenbaum said. “Althoug we did do a much better job in game two.”

The third game started like the first as Sandy Creek scored eight unanswered points to open the set.

Service was again a problem, as Heritage didn’t pull any closer than 15-5.

Heritage opened the fourth game with a 6-4 lead thanks to three kills by Charles, but Sandy Creek found its way back into the set.

Tied 9-9, Sandy Creek scored six unanswered points for a 15-9 lead and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way.

Daniell Smith had two kills to close out the game and the Heritage season.

“It’s tough to play a team that does everything well,” Buddenbaum said. “We do some things well, but not everything well.

“They do everything well.”