NEOSHO, Mo. — At the conclusion of a long, productive day of volleyball, the Joplin Eagles fell one win short of playing for a tournament championship.
Northwest-Cedar Hill defeated Joplin 2-0 (25-22, 25-20) in a semifinal contest of the Neosho Invitational Volleyball Tournament on Saturday afternoon inside the Neosho Junior High gymnasium.
The Lions went on to beat Marshfield in three sets in the championship match.
After her squad went 2-2-1 on the day, Eagles coach Staci Saunders noted she was proud of her team’s effort.
“I thought we got better throughout the day,” Saunders said. “I was really proud of how we played in bracket play. We had a strong game against Neosho and I thought we played well against Cedar Hill. We have to clean up our errors, but I thought our defense was much better. We did a good job blocking. We played a good game against Cedar Hill. We gave them everything they wanted. Overall, it was another great team effort. They did a good job.”
In Gold Pool play, Joplin split two sets with Seneca (lost 25-22 and won 25-17), lost to Marshfield 2-0 (25-12, 25-20) and beat Riverton 2-0 (25-13, 25-20).
In bracket play, Joplin defeated conference rival Neosho 2-0 (25-10, 25-14) before ending the day against Northwest, a school 35 miles from St. Louis.
In the semifinal contest, Joplin led the first set 10-5, but the Lions tied the set at 13. Northwest later went on a 12-2 scoring run to go up 19-14. The Eagles stayed within striking distance, but fell short.
The second set was tied at 15 but Northwest rattled off five of the next six points. An ace by senior setter Addison Saunders and a kill from senior outside hitter Aubrey Ritter kept the Eagles close, but Northwest closed it out.
“It all comes down to who can receive the serve better,” Saunders said. “We’ve got to be able to serve-receive consistently. When we play consistent volleyball, we can be a hard team to beat.”
For the day, Addison Saunders compiled 36 assists, 31 service points, 30 digs and 10 kills, while classmate Ritter racked up 36 digs, 17 kills and 16 service points.
Angelina Schramm contributed 18 service points, 17 kills and nine digs, while Allie Lawrence had 18 kills, 12 digs and seven serve points.
Also for the Eagles, Kaylie Anderson had 28 digs, Baileigh Riley handed out 19 assists and Kacy Coss had 12 kills.
In Black Pool play, Neosho went 1-2. The Wildcats defeated Diamond 2-0 (25-16, 25-18) and suffered losses to Northwest (25-10, 25-14) and Lamar (25-14, 25-16).
In Tuesday’s COC matches, Joplin hosts Ozark and Neosho hosts Carthage.
Jennalee Dunn shattered the Joplin High School record for the girls 5,000-meter run by 22 seconds at the 17th annual Camdenton Laker Cross Country Invitational on Saturday at Collins Farm at Ha Ha Tonka State Park.
A junior who advanced to the state meet a year ago, Dunn finished fifth overall in the girls 5K with a time of 19 minutes even.
“Jennalee is a fantastic young lady and she’s a fantastic runner,” Eagles coach Dustin Dixon said. “She’s bought in from the moment she came over. She transferred from Thomas Jefferson as a sophomore. She had some success at Thomas Jefferson, but it’s a pretty big step coming from a Class 1 school to one of the largest schools in the state. She had a great year last year, but we knew there was a lot more there. We’ve been trying to talk her through what it really means to race a 5K and how it should feel. She’s adjusted well to the training and I think we got a glimpse of that today.”
Dunn wasn’t the only Eagle to have a strong showing. Freshman Allie Keizer and sophomore Sage Mitchell finished 35th and 36th, respectively. Both had new personal-best times of 20:39.
“As a whole, our girls team ran really well,” Dixon said, noting the Eagles were without freshman Alexandra Carson, the team’s No. 2 runner.
Also competing for JHS were sophomores Cylee Gilreath (89th), Mairi Beranek (90th) and Jackaline Triplett (121st) and senior Ella Cheatham (142nd).
“I was really pleased with how all those girls ran,” Dixon said. “Of our top five, all of them either PR’d or ran a season best.”
Rock Bridge’s Carolyn Ford crossed the line first in 17:52. The only other runners who finished ahead of Dunn were Mountain Home’s Marcie Cudworth (18:40), Nixa’s Alicen Ashley (18:42) and Kickapoo’s Klarie Brown (18:42).
There were 223 runners in the girls race and 30 full teams. Rock Bridge (53), Kickapoo (107) and Francis Howell (136) were the top three teams. Joplin’s girls were seventh.
Joplin’s Jennalee Dunn competes during Saturday’s Camdenton Invitational. Dunn shattered the girls school record for a 5K with her time of 19:00. Photo courtesy of Soft Paws Entertainment.
CAMPBELL LEADS JHS BOYS
In a loaded field, Joplin’s boys finished third in the team standings with 206 points. Rock Bridge (52) and Kickapoo (123) finished first and second, respectively. There were 36 full teams and 253 runners in the boys race.
Rock Bridge’s Matthew Hauser took first in 15:12, while El Dorado Springs’ Daelen Ackley was second in 15:14. East Newton’s Kelton Sorrell was 14th (16:03).
Joplin was led by sophomore Hobbs Campbell, who finished 19th in 16:14. Dixon said Campbell recorded the sixth-fastest time in school history.
“Hobbs went out and took charge for us,” Dixon said. “There were a lot more teams there than there have been in the past. You’ve only got about 250-300 meters before it gets really narrow. Hobbs and Evan Matlock got out very well.”
A junior, Matlock finished 30th in a new personal-best time of 16:33, while senior Kane Brooks took 46th (16:53), also a new PR.
“Kane is a senior and today was only the second time he’s ran in a varsity race,” Dixon said. “He’s been one of our better junior varsity runners. Before today he had a PR of 18:05. That was a huge surprise. I knew he was capable of it. He stepped up.”
Also for the Eagles, Zaben Barnes was 54th, Nicholas Horton finished 58th, Micah Bruggeman was 65th and Ian Horton took 69th.
“We’ve had a good pack on the boys side and we continue to talk about how to use that to our advantage,” Dixon said. “Some of our other guys didn’t get out well today, but they ran really smart. They didn’t panic about not having a great start. They just slowly moved up. Those guys went to work in the second half of the race. I was pleased.”
A returning state qualifier, Bruggeman competed for just the second time this fall.
“Micah is getting fitter every single day,” Dixon said. “Last week was his first race with us this season. He’s healthy and I think he’s going to get exponentially better in the last five weeks of the season.”
MAKING STRIDES
Dixon noted both squads have been making positive strides as the season winds down. On Saturday, the Eagles took another big step forward.
“I feel pretty good about our effort today,” Dixon said. “We talked yesterday about switching the mindset as we prepare for the championship season. We just have a couple more meets to finetune things before the championships start. We’ve grown well throughout the year, but at the same time, there’s a difference between just going through regular-season events and being really sharp for the end of the year. I think today was a good step in the right direction for us. I was pleased with how we ran today.”
The Eagles head to a meet in Warrensburg on Oct. 15 and the Central Ozark Conference meet is slated for Oct. 20 in Nixa.
“This was the first time we got to race against teams from the conference in three weeks,” Dixon said. “We hadn’t seen teams from our conference since the middle of September. Our goal for both teams is to make a run at a conference championship. We have never qualified a team, boys or girls, for the state championships. And we’ve never won a conference meet, whether we were in the Ozark Conference or in the COC. I’m telling our boys and girls that the job is not done. We have to stay focused and keep getting better. We made good progress today.”
CARTHAGE RESULTS
Carthage’s boys finished fourth in the team standings with 215 points.
Mariques Strickland finished 23rd with a time of 16:22 to lead the Tigers. Also competing for Carthage were Malcolm Robertson (32nd), Ty Lewis (50th), Richard Contreras (51st), Coltyn Herrera (60th) and Joseph Wyrick (75th).
Kimberly Hernandez led Carthage’s girls with a 52nd place showing (21:09). Lauren Wilson (79th), Keysli Elias (123rd), Jenna Wilson (127th), Hadley McBride (130th), Morelia Reyes (149th) and Diana Pichardo (187th) also competed for the Tigers, who were 14th in the standings.
WEBB CITY RESULTS
Roman Borboa finished 17th in 16:09 to lead the Cardinals. Also competing for the Cardinals were Owen Weller (44th), Dustin McLallen (55th), Samuel Winesburg (68th) and Evan Stevens (87th). The Cardinals, who were missing some key performers, finished ninth in the team standings.
Riley Hawkins, Hally Philpot and Abi Street led Webb City’s girls by finishing 41st, 42nd and 45th, respectively. Hawkins crossed the line at 20:50, with Philpot (20:53) and Street (20:57) not far behind.
Also competing for Webb City were Isabelle Lopez (68th), Velissia Perez (74th) and Mileah Metcalf (77th). The Cardinals were eighth in the team standings.
