WEBB CITY, Mo. — The Webb City Cardinals wouldn’t be denied.
Webb City started fast and finished strong en route to a thrilling and hard-fought 3-2 victory over Helias Catholic on Saturday afternoon in a quarterfinal contest of the MSHSAA Class 4 state volleyball tournament inside a packed Cardinal Dome.
The Cardinals beat the Crusaders 25-11, 24-26, 17-25, 25-21, 15-10 to advance to the Final Four for the first time in school history.
“This is incredible,” Webb City senior outside hitter Brenda Lawrence said while her teammates celebrated with family and friends close by. “We made history today. I think from the very beginning of the season we’ve wanted this so bad. The unity was there, the team was ready and we were in the right mindset today. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy and we knew they wanted it just as bad as we did. We knew we had to win it as a team, not as individuals.”
Webb City (32-4-2) will meet Incarnate Word (28-12) in the Class 4 semifinals at 2 p.m. on Thursday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.
“I’m super excited and I can’t be more grateful to the kids for buying in,” Cardinals coach Rhonda Lawrence said. “I’m so proud of them. From the time they’ve been little, they bought in and they wanted to be here. I’m so happy for them to get the chance to show out. They deserve it. They’ve put in a lot of years of work. We’ve been supported by the community all season long. They continue to push us. Our student section today…you couldn’t ask for more.”
A trip to the state finals has been a longtime goal for this year’s group, Coach Lawrence noted.
“From the beginning of the season, we talked about goals,” Coach Lawrence said. “We wanted to win the conference, but we stumbled against Nixa. We had to use that to get better. Every loss has made us better this year. But the Final Four was the ultimate goal from Day 1.”
In order to advance, the Cardinals had to overcome a 2-1 deficit, as the visiting Crusaders appeared in control of the match after winning the second and third sets.
“I thought we had the momentum after the second and third sets, but Webb City just would not be denied in their home gym,” Helias coach David Harris said. “They served very tough, their serve-receive was really good and their hitters didn’t make many unforced errors. We had some missed serves and some unforced errors. In the fifth set, Webb City came out on fire and they kind of served us off the court. That’s the best serving team we’ve faced all year.”
Backed by a raucous home crowd, Webb City stormed out of the gates in the opening set. The Cardinals, who never trailed in the first set, held leads of 4-0 and 8-4. A kill from junior outside hitter Aubree Lassiter and a pair of service points from senior setter Kyah Sanborn gave the Cardinals a 17-9 advantage.
Brenda Lawrence served three aces late in the opening set before senior outside hitter Kate Brownfield slammed a kill on set point.
Webb City wasn’t able to hold on to the momentum, however, as Helias stormed back and won the second and third sets to take a 2-1 lead.
The Crusaders led 21-11 in the second set before the Cardinals rallied. Webb City used a 12-2 run to tie the set at 23. A kill from Brenda Lawrence briefly gave the Cardinals the lead, but the Crusaders rattled off three straight points to take the second set, with Chapel Dobbs serving an ace and Josie Morasch slamming a set-ending kill.
The Crusaders led 11-3 and 20-12 en route to winning the third set.
Trailing 2-1 in the match, Webb City had to win the fourth set to keep the season alive. And the Cardinals did just that.
“We knew if we played our game and went to our strengths, we really had a better team and a better overall balanced attack,” Coach Lawrence said. “We had to get back to doing that. We needed to play with more aggression.”
In the fourth set, Webb City never trailed after taking a 5-4 advantage. The Cardinals took a 15-11 lead after kills from freshman Jaeli Rutledge, Brownfield and Sanborn. Late kills from Sanborn and Brownfield sent the match to a deciding fifth set.
In the final set, Webb City took the lead for good on junior libero Sophia Crane’s ace that made it 4-2.
Brenda Lawrence came alive at the net, hammering home three kills to extend the hosts’ cushion. An ace from Sanborn gave the Cardinals a 10-3 lead.
The Crusaders (29-7-3) didn’t go down quietly, but the Cardinals were the first team to 15. With that, the Cardinals were also the team celebrating a historic win.
“In the fifth set, you know you need to get on it quick,” Coach Lawrence said. “You’ve got to be on your game. Brenda got real ticked off in the fourth set. She went off in the fifth set. That was one of the toughest games we’ve had all year. I think it made us better.”
Brenda Lawrence compiled 15 kills, 10 digs and six aces, while Brownfield had 19 digs and nine kills.
Lassiter contributed five kills, six digs and four solo blocks, while Rutledge had six kills and two blocks.
Sanborn compiled 33 assists, 12 digs, five kills, three aces and two blocks. Crane recorded a team-high 23 digs and three aces, while senior Jenna Noel chipped in 11 digs and sophomore Kirra Long had two solo blocks.
The Cardinals, who won a second straight district title and the third in four years, are now guaranteed two more matches this fall.
On Thursday, a spot in the state championship game will be up for grabs.
“If we can keep on getting better and if we can keep pushing ourselves, great things are going to happen,” said Coach Lawrence, who is assisted by Jason Brown, Olivia Lewis and Mollie Keene.
Thursday’s other Class 4 semifinal will feature Platte County (26-9) vs. Westminster Christian (30-2-5).
The semifinal losers will play for third place at 8 on Thursday night. The state title match is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4.
