NEOSHO, Mo. — After narrowly missing a chance at playing in the Gold bracket, Joplin volleyball responded by marching its way to a Black bracket championship with a 2-0 win over Seneca on Saturday at Neosho High School.
The Eagles opened the day in pool play, earning a win over Sherwood (25-17, 25-14), splitting two games with Cedar Hill (19-25, 27-26) and dropping a match with Lamar (26-24, 26-23) to narrowly miss qualifying for the Gold bracket. Joplin instead earned the No. 1 seed in the Black bracket and was determined to make the most of it.
After earning a bye in the first round, the Eagles matched up with Sherwood once again in the semifinals and rallied back to earn a hard-fought 22-25, 25-13 and 25-16 win to advance to the finals.
In the finals, Joplin matched up with Seneca and dominated in the first game for a 25-9 win. The Indians put up a fight in the second set, but the Eagles closed the sweep with a 25-22 victory.
Joplin’s Abby Edwards finished with 22 kills, 33 digs, four aces, three assists and a block, while Allie Lawrence — and all-tournament — collection closed the day with 20 kills, six aces, 15 digs and one assist. Kaya Cooper had 53 assists and 29 digs, while Paisley Parker had 78 digs and seven assists. Angelina Schramm finished with a team-high 26 kills and had five digs, while Emma Floyd had 19 kills and four blocks. Jayla Hunter had 33 assists and 19 digs.
Joplin is at McDonald County on Monday.
SENECA TAKES SECOND IN BLACK BRACKET
Despite falling to Joplin in the title game, the Indians walked away with a second-place showing in the Black bracket on Saturday.
Seneca fought its way to the final round after earning wins over Sherwood and Gravette in bracket play.
The Indians split with Neosho 17-25 and 25-10 and fell twice to Riverton 25-19, 25-22 before closing pool play with a split against Rogers (Arkansas) JV 25-22 and 15-25.
NEOSHO CLOSES IN FOURTH IN BLACK BRACKET AS HOSTS
Neosho started the day in the pool play and finished with a 25-18, 25-13 loss to Riverton, a 25-14, 11-25 split with Rogers JV and a 25-17, 20-25 split with Seneca.
The Wildcats added a win over Gravette in the Black bracket before falling to East Newton in the third-place game to close the afternoon.
NORTHWEST WINS GOLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Northwest defeated Riverton in the Gold bracket championship by the scores of 25-16 and 25-18.
Northwest earned wins over Rogers JV and Marshfield to advance to the championship round of bracket play.
In Pool play, Northwest split with Joplin 25-20 and 26-27 before beating Sherwood 25-23 and 25-20. Wrapping up pool play action, Northwest added a 27-26, 25-17 win over Lamar.
