CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — It is only fitting that the final match on a grueling day filled with nearly 12 hours of volleyball should go three sets, with that final set reaching extra points.
Unfortunately for Carl Junction, it was Rogers, Arkansas, with its hand raised after the dust settled in the Dr. Jeffrey Knutzen CJ Classic title game, with the Mounties earning a 25-19, 24-26 and 27-25 victory over the host Bulldogs on Saturday.
“I thought we competed really hard and did some great things,” Carl Junction coach Cheryl Sharples said. “We can take that and build from just being on either side of that—learning how to fight through it when things aren’t necessarily going your way and getting tough. I feel like we just take this and build on it. (Rogers) is a great team. So, if you have to lose, you want it to be to a good team like that. But, we also get better by playing teams like that. That was great volleyball, right there.”
After beating West Plains in the semifinals of the Gold Bracket, Carl Junction traded points in the opening set with Rogers, who took down Webb City in the other semifinal matchup. It wasn’t until the Mounties scored the final five points of the set—with Bella Jones earning a block, while Macey Tauai and Brooklynn Weaver earned kills—that either team held an advantage.
Carl Junction responded by jumping out to a 7-2 lead in the second set thanks to a pair of kills from Karissa Chase and a block by Kylie Scott before Scott earned another kill shortly after and added two points in service to give CJ a seven-point lead at 16-9.
The Bulldogs’ lead was trimmed to one, 20-19, late in the second set when Rogers used a service error to force a sideout before Weaver went on a four-point run. Dahana Tuomala had a kill and a block, while Dyllan Chandler and Olyvia Hall filled out the run with blocks as well.
Rogers proceeded to score five of the next seven points, with Scott earning sideout kills twice for CJ, to take a 24-22 lead.
Facing elimination, Chase earned a block to give Abigail Wilson service. Wilson ripped off the final three points, which included an ace and a kill by Chase, to rally the Bulldogs back for a second-set win to force a winner-takes-all third set.
“(Karissa Chase) really came on in that match and they didn’t have an answer for her and she just kept banging,” Sharples said. “I was excited for her to take over a match like that.”
Rogers jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the final set before a kill from Scott and a four-point run in service by Miya Carnes—filled out with kills from Chase and Aubreigh Fowler as well as an ace—rallied the Bulldogs back to a 10-9 advantage.
The lead went back and forth before Carl Junction used a 6-1 run, including three straight kills by Scott, to put the Bulldogs on top 19-17.
Carl Junction led 22-19 before a sideout led to a three points in service from Hall, with Jones earning two kills, giving the Mounties a 23-22 lead.
A service error on Rogers and a kill from Chase put CJ back in front, with Tauai and Chase then trading kills to make the score 25-24 in favor of Carl Junction.
Tauai forced another sideout with a kill and added a block on the next point to give Rogers the lead, with the Mounties finishing off the set and match moments later.
“This is a good test for the middle of the season,” Sharples said about hosting the all-day tournament. “It is good for us to have to be mentally tough in situations and I feel like today is a day that makes you mentally tougher,”
Carl Junction is 16-4 on the season and hosts Neosho on Tuesday in Central Ozark Conference action.
