The All-Class 4 District 12 volleyball team for 2021 has been announced.
ALL-CLASS 4 DISTRICT 12 TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Logan Jones, Carl Junction
Olivia Vediz, Carl Junction
Destiny Buerge, Carl Junction
Kylie Scott, Carl Junction
Kearston Galardo, Webb City
Kyah Sanborn, Webb City
Sophia Crane, Webb City
SECOND TEAM
Karissa Chase, Carl Junction
Abigail Wiseman, McDonald County
Kylie Knight, Monett
Trinity Gayman, Nevada
Delaney Hope, Nevada
Emma Leisure, Nevada
Kate Brownfield, Webb City
NIXA, Mo. — With a berth in the quarterfinal round of the state volleyball tournament on the line, the Joplin Eagles suffered a season-ending setback to one of Missouri’s best teams.
Currently ranked third in Missouri by MaxPreps, Nixa upended Joplin 3-0 in a Class 5 sectional on Thursday night at Nixa High School. The set scores were 25-18, 25-11, 25-16.
This year’s Central Ozark Conference champion, Nixa (31-4) advanced to the quarterfinals, where they’ll travel to Rock Bridge (33-4) on Saturday.
Joplin ends the season with a record of 15-12-5.
In Desiree Felker’s first season at the helm, the Eagles captured a district championship for the first time since 1996 and were one win away from a quarterfinal berth.
Joplin’s departing seniors are Angelina Schramm, Allie Lawrence, Logan Bruggeman, Sydney Walker, Kacy Coss and Emma Floyd. Schramm, Floyd and Lawrence were the team’s leaders in kills this season.
Last year’s state runner-up, Nixa gained the momentum right away in each set.
The hosts, who went 9-0 in the COC, led 9-2 in the opening set. A pair of aces from Jena Medearis gave Nixa a 15-5 advantage.
But the visitors picked it up with an 11-6 run. Kills from Lawrence and Abby Edwards trimmed Joplin’s deficit to 21-16 before Nixa recorded four of the next six points to win the first set, with an ace from Sydney Golden.
In the second set, Nixa went up 15-4 after a kill from Medearis, an ace from Jaycee Fixsen and a Joplin attack error.
Joplin stayed within striking distance in the third set, trailing 13-10 and 17-14. But Nixa had too much firepower, as the hosts led 20-14 en route to the set and match victory.
ROGERSVILLE, Mo. — Webb City’s postseason run came to end on Thursday night, as the Logan-Rogersville Wildcats defeated the Cardinals 3-1 in the sectional round of the Class 4 state volleyball tournament.
Logan-Rogersville knocked off Webb City 25-19, 25-22, 21-25, 25-16.
The Wildcats (21-11-1) advanced to the quarterfinals, where they’ll travel to Jefferson City (20-14-2) on Saturday.
Falling one win short of the quarterfinal round, Webb City ends the season with a record of 19-13-2.
In a solid 2021 season, Webb City won a district championship for the second time in three seasons.
Rhonda Lawrence’s Cardinals have just two seniors on this year’s roster—Makenzie Storm and Kearston Galardo. The rest of this year’s lineup will return in 2022.
On Thursday, Brenda Lawrence recorded 13 kills to lead the Cardinals’ attack at the net, while Galardo added nine kills to go with 12 digs. Aubree Lassiter chipped in five kills and three blocks, while Storm contributed three kills and two blocks.
Junior setter Kyah Sanborn handed out 30 assists and also recorded seven digs. Sophia Crane had 13 digs, while Kate Brownfield added 11 digs and Jenna Noel had nine digs.
College Heights saw its season come to an end following a 25-8, 25-10 and 25-11 loss to Miller in the Class 1 Sectional round of the state tournament on Thursday at Ozark Christian College.
“Miller is deep and solid,” College Heights coach Mary Colin said following the season-ending loss. “Our goal was to play very aggressively. We knew if we soft-shotted or free-balled that it was going to come back at us hard. So, our goal was to come out and be aggressive and you saw some of that. … The problem was, we just weren’t consistent throughout and in the attempt to be aggressive, we had errors. And you can’t error in volleyball or you’ll lose.”
The Cougars end the season with a 17-14-2 record and will return every player from this year’s roster. College Heights has earned a district title in each of the last two seasons.
“Losing eight seniors last year and basically having a whole new squad this year, for them to follow up with a district championship was super fun,” Colin said. “I felt like they had a really competitive season. They grew a lot this season.”
“They didn’t have that pressure (of ‘this is it’) all season long,” Colin added about not having a senior on the roster this season. “It was really about growth and getting better, and they did. They kept getting better and it was really fun. It wasn’t just about today, but tomorrow. It wasn’t just about this season, but next season. And we did talk about that a lot—how it’s not just about this year, but next year, too. They love this game.”
Miller (31-3-1) advances to the Class 1 quarterfinals with a matchup against Midway (30-6) on Saturday.
Miller jumped out in front early in the first set, taking a 10-1 advantage out of the gate before pushing the lead to 12-4 on a kill from Kaylee Helton. The Cardinals scored six of the next eight points to go up 19-6. Miller scored the final six points of the match, highlighted by three kills from Hailey Schnake, to take a 1-0 lead.
A seven-point service run early in the second game from Schnake staked the Cardinals to an 11-1 lead before the Cougars found some momentum with three kills from Addie Lawrence and a block from Libby Fanning made the score 13-5.
After building a 10-point lead in the later stages of the set, Miller scored seven straight points to make the score 24-9. Ashten Kingsley and Schnake had kills in the run, while Claudia Hadlock had two aces. The Cardinals closed the set moments later.
College Heights found its rhythm on offense out of the break to start the third set, with Lawrence recording five early kills to give the Cougars a 6-4 lead. CHC maintained a slim lead until a block from Emberlynn Kingsley and a kill from Schnake gave Miller the lead shortly before a three-point run that included an ace by Hadlock provided the Cardinals with a 13-9 advantage.
The errors that plagued the Cougars in the first two sets showed up late in the third set, as Miller scored the last 11 points of the match, with six of those points coming on miscues by CHC.
STATS
Lawrence had 15 kills to lead College Heights, while Lauren Ukena added five kills. Maddy Colin had 20 assists, with Fanning adding two blocks. Ava Masena had 13 digs.
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