Joplin notched its first win of the season in its home opener after making quick work of Cassville with a 3-0 sweep on Thursday inside Kaminsky Gymnasium.
The Eagles moved to 1-2 on the young season after earning a 25-11, 25-14 and 25-12 victory over the Wildcats (1-4).
“It felt really good, especially after heading up to Kansas City on Tuesday and not getting the results that we wanted,” Joplin coach Desiree Felker said. “It kind of left a bad taste in our mouth. … It felt nice to get back out on the court refreshed and refocused in front of our fans and do what we know how to do.”
“Our fans did a really good job of showing up and being loud for us,” Felker added about playing in front of the home crowd. “It was Middle School Night, where we recognized our middle school teams, and they did a really good job of cheering us on.”
Joplin and Cassville played to a 6-all tie in the first set before a kill from junior Bailey Owens followed by a five-point service run from senior Jayla Hunter put the Eagles in front for good with a 12-6 lead. Hunter had a pair of aces in the run.
“That was huge for (our confidence at the service line),” Felker said of the early run by Hunter. “She did a really good job back there tonight.”
Joplin pushed the lead methodically to 19-9 with kills from senior Paisley Parker, senior Abby Edwards and senior Serafina Auberry sprinkled throughout.
Junior Raelin Calderon essentially put the game out of reach with a four-point service run that included a trio of aces to push the opening-set lead to 23-9.
“Her serve really came on in the past couple of weeks,” Felker said of Calderon. “She puts a lot of pressure on our passers in practice, which makes us better serve receivers. She has figured out how to contact the ball where she needs to drive it low over the net, which makes it really difficult to pass. She has been working hard on kind of perfecting it and I think she is in a really good place.”
Owens ultimately closed the opening set out with a kill followed by a block.
“Bailey Owens did a great job tonight,” Felker said. “It was nice to have her back on the court tonight. She does a great job of playing with confidence and playing big. Whenever she is on, she is really tough to stop.”
The Eagles continued to use the service line to establish themselves in the second game, with Auberry using a four-point run that was filled with three aces and a kill from Owens to stretch Joplin’s 13-11 advantage to 17-11.
Hunter added another long run, six points, with several aces along the way to push the advantage to 24-12, with the Eagles closing out the set shortly after.
“We did a really good job of setting the tone from the service line,” Felker said. “We kept them on their heels and put some pressure on them. We made a few too many serving errors, but we made up for it with how aggressively we were serving. That is something we are going to want to clean up in the future.”
Joplin found little resistance in the third set, cruising to the home-opening sweep.
STATS
Owens led the Eagles with seven kills, three digs and a block. Hunter and Calderon each had six aces in service, while Hunter added a team-high 18 digs and Calderon contributed four kills. Auberry had three aces in service and five kills, while Parker finished with 11 digs. Kaya Cooper had 11 assists, with Abby Hembree adding nine assists.
UP NEXT
Joplin is back on the road with a matchup at Springfield Central on Tuesday.
