WEBB CITY, Mo. — The Webb City Cardinals jumped out strong on the Harrisonville Wildcats and put together a 3-0 home-opening victory (25-8, 25-11, 25-21) Thursday evening for their first win of the season.
Webb City improved to 1-1 in the early season and the Cardinals return to action Thursday, Sept. 8, at home against Rogers (Ark.) Heritage.
Head coach Rhonda Lawrence surveyed the strides the Cardinals made three days after their season-opening four-set loss against Bentonville West (Ark).
“We’ve got to get a little more consistent on the energy production all game long,” Lawrence said. “Not just the first set. We’ve got to put three all-out efforts together. In the second game tonight, we did fine, but we’re still not quite to our full potential just yet. It’s super early, and I’m OK with that, but we definitely need to come out with a little more confidence. Just little tweaks here and there we’re going to have to make, and the little things are going to be hugely important when you get into big games. We’re headed in the right direction.”
Webb City won the first set 25-12 on Monday.
“Our serve receive was a lot better tonight compared to Bentonville West,” Lawrence said. “Our connection with our hitters is getting better. When we get into a faster pace offensively, we are thriving. We really like the faster pace, but we’ve got to do a something a little more on our side to get hyped up and get going faster sooner.
“Blocking, we’ve got to get a little bit of timing and alignment up. We’ve got some good blockers. We just seem to be getting a lot of touches up there, and I want them to actually put it down on the other side. It’s one of the most difficult skills of the game. We need to be a little more flexible with each other, as far as what offense and what set we’re running, and that’s going to come together more as we get into the season.”
Senior outside hitter Kate Brownfield led the Cardinals on Thursday with 11 kills and three aces, junior middle blocker Aubree Lassiter added eight kills, and senior outside hitter Brenda Lawrence tallied six kills.
Meanwhile, junior libero Sophia Crane had 19 digs, senior setter Kyah Sanborn recorded 27 assists, and sophomore opposite hitter Kirra Long added two blocks.
“Our kills are always spread out,” Coach Lawrence said. “That’s nice for us, to spread out the offense and then they can’t just focus on and shut down one or two of us. It’s nice when one or two get on a roll because that helps with the energy production.
“We were balanced tonight. Kate Brownfield’s bringing a little bit extra diversity in her attacking and that makes her hard to deal with and Brenda’s always going to be a tough hitter to shut down because she’s got a strong arm and she’s playing smarter, finding the smart shots rather than just hard shots.”
Webb City opens Central Ozark Conference play Tuesday, Sept. 20, against conference and district rival Carl Junction.
