Seneca stayed perfect in Big 8 West Conference action by beating Monett 3-2 (25-20, 21-25, 25-16, 20-25, 17-15) on Thursday in a prep volleyball clash.
Rylee Nesvold had 37 digs for the Indians, while Rylee Darnell had 37 assists.
Myla Hembree had nine kills, Jera Jameson added eight kills, while Ellie Barnes and Parker Long had seven kills apiece.
Kendyl Petty had 19 digs and seven aces, while Braxton Raulston had seven aces. Petty and Jadeyn Bailey added three kills apiece.
Seneca (4-9-2, 3-0 Big 8 West) is at Lamar on Tuesday.
Day: October 9, 2020
Volleyball: Thomas Jefferson, College Heights earn wins
Thomas Jefferson beat Verona 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-23) in prep volleyball action on Thursday.
The Cavaliers improved to 3-1 in conference action.
Winni Hiebert had five kills and three blocks for Thomas Jefferson, while Nico Carlson added four kills and four blocks.
Sonia Carlson and Kayley Ball both chipped in four kills and four aces, while Laynie Solum had three kills and five aces.
The Cavaliers host College Heights Christian (9-0) on Monday.
The Cougars beat Baxter Springs 3-0 (25-20, 25-15, 25-13) on Thursday.
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF: CJ’s Logan Jones breaks own assist record as Bulldogs upend Ozark in 5 sets
CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — It was another historic night in Carl Junction, as sophomore setter Logan Jones broke her own CJHS record for assists in a single game while helping the Bulldogs upend Ozark 19-25, 25-14, 20-25, 25-21, 15-10 in a five-set Central Ozark Conference thriller.
“I knew it was going to be a battle,” CJ coach Cheryl Sharples said. “We played them twice in the Springfield Classic and took a couple of wins off of them, so I knew they would have that revenge motivation. They are a very good team that did some really nice things to take advantage of some things we were struggling with. It was kind of a roller-coaster game for us. I thought at times we played at a really high level, and at times we struggled. But, again, they found a way to win.”
Jones set the Carl Junction single-game assists record last season with 43 against Springdale Har-Ber on Oct. 24. She broke her own record against the Tigers with 49 assists on Thursday.
“Logan is such a great setter, she really is,” Sharples said. “She has a mind for the game and is very aware of what is happening on the other side of the net to get us matchups. She played hard tonight. She was a little gimpy, but she played through that and took control and made things happen for our hitters.”
“I think it just shows how great my hitters are and how great my passers are,” Jones said after breaking her own assist record. “Before each play, I communicate with the girls on what to do with the offense and what would be best compared to the other team. So, it’s really easy for me when they know exactly what to run and what would be best.”
The win moves Carl Junction to 17-3 on the season, with a second-place 4-1 record in the COC. Ozark falls to 9-7, 3-2 in the COC.
GAME NOTES
Ozark opened the night by taking the first game thanks to a late service run by Kinsey McAllister. The Tigers took the lead 17-16 before ripping off six straight points in her service to build a 23-16 advantage, stealing the momentum in the first set. Hanna Vorhies had two kills in the run.
Carl Junction trailed 6-4 early in the second game before Jones earned a kill and came up with a big service run of her own, which spanned 10 points to give the Bulldogs full control of the set with a 15-6 advantage. Jones had an ace, while forcing Ozark into five errors. Salma Lewis added two kills, with Kylie Scott earning a kill as well.
“She has a great service that is very effective and has a lot of movement on it,” Sharples said of Jones. “We face it in practice every day and it gives us fits, so I know it’s going to give other teams problems.”
Ozark methodically built a lead in the third game, with a block from Savannah Eisman giving the Tigers a 17-11 advantage. A kill from Eisman and an ace by Kenna Humble pushed the margin to 21-13.
The Bulldogs made a late run, with a kill by Jessa Hylton followed by a four-point service run from Destiny Buerge cutting the deficit to 22-20. Buerge had two aces, while Jill Kennedy had a block and a kill during the run. Ozark went on to win the set 25-20, but it was that late run that sparked Carl Junction’s play in the final two games.
“I just told them to build a little bit of momentum,” Sharples said. “Don’t worry about the score, just build the momentum. That was key to focus on that momentum and grab it a little bit.”
Carl Junction trailed 10-7 in the fourth set following an ace by McAllister, but a kill from Lewis forced a sideout. With Lewis in service, she earned a kill and an ace to tie the set at 10-10. Hylton followed with a kill to give the Bulldogs an 11-10 lead.
Carl Junction pushed the lead to 16-13 after a block by Jones and a kill from Hylton. Both teams traded blows before the Bulldogs forced a fifth set following a kill from Hylton and Lewis to close out the forth set, 25-21.
“I thought we did a good job of digging in after falling behind,” Sharples said. “We passed it well to get what we wanted out of serve-receive. We were executing. All of our hitters were taking good swings and executing.”
In the match-deciding fifth set, Carl Junction was leading 6-5 with Ozark serving when Jones came up with perhaps the biggest play of the night, sticking her arm out while on her backside for an incredible dig on a Tigers attack. The point ended moments later in a kill for Lewis to put Carl Junction on top 7-5, swinging the momentum in favor of the Bulldogs as the crowd erupted.
“That was an awesome play,” Sharples said. “It just showed the true mentality of never giving up on the play. I told them going into that fifth set that we really had to dig deep, and that we needed everybody’s best moment during that set. I feel like that kind of sucked the air out of them when we got that point.”
Carl Junction built the lead to 9-5 after a kill from Hylton and an attack error on Ozark. The Tigers trimmed the lead to 10-8, but a kill from Hylton, an error on Ozark and an ace from Hylton sent Carl Junction to a 13-8 advantage. Lewis earned a kill to get the Bulldogs to 14, with an error by the Tigers following a sideout ending the match in favor of Carl Junction.
“They took a lot of great swings for us,” Sharples said of Lewis and Hylton. “We struggled a little early against the block, but I thought we made good adjustments we needed to make.”
STATS
Aside from her recording-setting 49 assists, Jones added four blocks for CJ. Lewis finished with 19 kills and 22 digs, while Hylton added 17 kills and 24 digs. Buerge had 15 digs.
UP NEXT
Carl Junction travels to Carthage for a matchup on Monday.
Volleyball: Neosho drops home match to Branson
NEOSHO, Mo. — Branson defeated Neosho 3-0 (25-18, 25-10, 25-19) in Central Ozark Conference volleyball action on Thursday.
The Wildcats dropped to 13-11-1 overall and 0-6 in the COC.
Savannah Merriman had six assists and five kills for the Wildcats, while Abby Jarvis and Shelby Roberts added three kills apiece.
Roberts had nine service points, with three aces. Roberts and Jarvis had two blocks apiece.
Melia Robertson had 11 digs, while Lexi Laney had eight assists.
Morgan LeBlanc had 16 kills to lead Branson, while Quinn Swofford had 17 digs and 14 service points. Kierstyn Harman handed out 28 assists.
Neosho is at Lamar on Monday.
Volleyball: Webb City falls at Nixa
NIXA, Mo. — Nixa defeated Webb City 3-0 (25-11, 25-20, 29-27) in Central Ozark Conference volleyball action on Thursday night.
Maddy Peeples recorded 11 kills and five digs to lead the Cardinals, while Kearston Galardo had eight kills and Kenzie Storm added six kills.
Sage Crane had a team-high 15 digs from the libero position. Kyah Sanborn, Kate Brownfield and Avery Westhoven contributed eight digs apiece.
Anna Hettinger had 19 assists, while Westhoven added 12 assists. Abby Stork chipped in seven digs and two aces.
Webb City is scheduled to compete at the Willard Tournament on Saturday.
Volleyball: Shorthanded Joplin falls short against Republic
With key performers unable to compete due to injuries, the Joplin High School volleyball team was not at full strength for Thursday’s Central Ozark Conference matchup with Republic.
And despite a solid effort, the shorthanded Eagles suffered a 3-1 setback to the Tigers inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.
Republic topped Joplin 25-23, 17-25, 25-19, 25-23 in a hard-fought and back-and-forth affair.
Joplin finished the night without senior setter Addison Saunders, who re-injured her left knee during the second set. The Eagles also took the court without junior middle blocker Kacy Coss, who did not play due to a possible abdominal strain.
Eagles coach Staci Saunders noted she was proud of her team’s effort.
“It was an interesting night,” Saunders said. “Kacy couldn’t play and then Addison goes down. She was begging her dad (Tracy) to play. We had our chances. Our decision-making was not the best down the stretch. Republic did what they needed to do to win. Hand it to Republic. They came to play. I thought both teams were evenly matched.”
Sophomore Abby Hembree earned lots of playing time at setter in Addison Saunders’ absence, while junior Logan Bruggeman saw plenty of court time at middle blocker with Coss unavailable.
Do-it-all senior outside hitter Aubrey Ritter once again led the Eagles with 18 digs, 16 service points and 16 kills. Junior Angelina Schramm had 10 kills and seven service points, while classmate Allie Lawrence contributed nine kills.
Hembree handed out 14 assists, while Baileigh Riley had 13 assists. Kaylie Anderson had a team-high 22 digs, while Paisley Parker added 10 digs. Emma Floyd contributed four kills and two blocks.
“I thought Aubrey, Angelina and Kaylie carried our team,” Saunders said. “I thought Emma and Logan both did a good job blocking.”
Republic (8-12-2, 2-4 COC) received 20 digs and 16 kills from Kaemyn Bekemeier, while Payge Plank handed out 49 assists.
The Eagles led the first set 14-9 after a service point from Ritter, but the Tigers stormed back. The set was tied at 23, but the Eagles committed a pair of attack errors.
Joplin led 12-5 in the second set when Addison Saunders went down with a knee injury. An ace from Hembree gave the Eagles a 15-6 lead. A late ace from Lawrence and a kill from Ritter gave the hosts the set victory.
“I thought we rallied once Addi got hurt,” Coach Saunders said. “The girls were concerned for Addi and I think they tried to rally around her. They wanted to get the job done for her.”
Clinging to an 18-15 lead, Republic finished strong in the third set to take a 2-1 advantage.
The fourth set was close all the way. A kill from Schramm tied the score at 16. The set was deadlocked at 18 when Lawrence slammed back-to-back kills to give the Eagles the lead.
Later, Ritter’s kill pushed Joplin in front 23-22. After the Tigers tied the set, an attack error gave the visitors a set and match point. The Eagles were unable to return a serve from Republic’s Plank, and the Tigers left town with a close win.
“We had some silly errors,” Saunders said. “When you have players on the court that aren’t used to playing together you’re going to have silly errors. They haven’t played together enough. We have to have a night where all six players on the court are all consistent. We’re struggling finding that consistency every night.”
Joplin (13-12-1, 1-5 COC) travels to Pittsburg on Monday night for a non-conference match with the Purple Dragons.
“We’re going to figure out a new lineup for next week,” Saunders said, noting her daughter’s status is up in the air. “We’ve got a lot more volleyball to play. Districts are coming up before we know it, so we have to rally the troops.”
