CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — For the third straight year, Carl Junction and Webb City will meet with a district championship on the line.
Top-seeded Carl Junction defeated fourth-seeded McDonald County 3-0 and second-seeded Webb City handled third-seeded Nevada 3-0 in semifinal matches of the Class 4 District 12 volleyball tournament on Saturday at CJHS.
Both teams earned convincing wins, as the Bulldogs defeated the Mustangs 25-9, 25-9, 25-14 and the Cardinals topped the Tigers 25-13, 25-12, 25-19.
The district championship match is slated for 6 p.m. on Monday at Carl Junction.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Carl Junction coach Cheryl Sharples said. “Our kids have been there before and they have that experience. We don’t have to worry about inexperience, so we like our chances. I think both teams have come to expect to meet in this game. That’s great because it’s always such a great rivalry. We’re ready for Monday. We’ll be ready to go.”
The Bulldogs beat the Cardinals in last year’s district title game after Webb City topped Carl Junction in the 2019 championship match.
Now, the rivals will meet again with the season on the line.
“It’s always exciting to be in the district championship,” Webb City coach Rhonda Lawrence said. “The last few years it’s been us and CJ. We won two years ago and they won last year. So we hope it’s our turn this year. We’ll have to play well to do it. They have a solid team. I hope we play as well as we can.”
The Bulldogs won two regular-season meetings with the Cardinals this fall.
It will be the fourth straight season the two programs have met in the postseason, as Carl Junction knocked off Webb City in the district semifinals in ’18.
The Bulldogs are in a district title match for the sixth straight season, with titles in ’20, ’18 and ’17 and losses in ’19 and ’16.
CARL JUNCTION 3, MCDONALD COUNTY 0
The Bulldogs (24-10) gained all of the momentum early in each set against the Mustangs. The hosts never relinquished it either.
“I really challenged them to control the level of their play on the court,” Sharples said. “I felt like we were pretty crisp and clean tonight. That’s what we needed to do.”
Sharples noted the Bulldogs are close to peaking at the right time.
“We’re getting pretty close to doing that,” Sharples said. “We’ve had some changes in our lineup and so we’ve been developing that lately. Now it’s time to peak.”
Junior outside hitter Destiny Buerge recorded 11 kills and eight digs for the Bulldogs, while sophomore middle hitter Kylie Scott added 10 kills. Freshman outside hitter Karissa Chase contributed six kills and two blocks.
Junior setter Logan Jones handed out 30 assists and also contributed five aces and five kills. Senior libero Olivia Vediz had nine digs and five aces.
In the first set, the Bulldogs led 11-7 when they rattled off 10 straight points. Maggie Brown had three aces during the run.
Three aces from Vediz gave Carl Junction a 12-5 lead in the second set. Later, a pair of kills from Buerge gave the Bulldogs a 20-8 advantage en route to the set victory.
In the third set, the Bulldogs led 15-10 when they closed out the final set and the match on a 10-4 surge.
Playing their final match for McDonald County (7-23-1) were seniors Lana Yang, Kirklyn Kasischke, Kloe Myers and Abby Wiseman.
WEBB CITY 3, NEVADA 0
Like the Bulldogs, the Cardinals (18-12-2) simply took care of business.
“We did not play well at Carthage on Tuesday, so it was nice to see us play the way we played today,” Lawrence said. “I’m proud of the way they played. They were a little more meticulous about things.”
Lawrence noted playing in the always-tough Central Ozark Conference pays off in postseason matches against non-conference opponents like Nevada.
“I think that’s obvious,” Lawrence said about being battle-tested. “Unfortunately, a lot of teams in our conference are in the same districts and we beat each other out in the postseason. But our matches in the COC are a notch higher than what some of these teams are used to seeing, and that always helps us this time of the year.”
In the opening set, Nevada hung tough early, but Webb City led 15-9 and 20-11 en route to victory.
The Cardinals snatched the momentum right away in the second set, leading 15-4.
Webb City scored the first eight points of the third set and never looked back.
Senior outside hitter Kearston Galardo and junior outside hitter Brenda Lawrence led Webb City’s attack at the net with 10 kills apiece.
Senior middle hitter Makenzie Storm added nine kills and three blocks, while junior outside hitter Kate Brownfield contributed nine digs, six kills and three blocks. Sophomore Aubree Lassiter chipped in three kills, three digs and two blocks.
Junior setter Kyah Sanborn handed out 32 assists and had seven digs. Sophomore libero Sophia Crane had a team-high 15 digs.
Seniors Grace Barnes, Hadley Bruce, Macy Cussimanio and Taylor Thompson played their final match for Nevada (12-17-1).
NOTE: The District 12 champion will meet the District 11 champion (Willard or Logan-Rogersville) in the sectional round on Oct. 28.
