WEBB CITY, Mo. — Second-seeded Webb City dropped the opening set before going on to close the match in four games with a 21-25, 25-21, 25-15, 25-20 win over third-seeded Bolivar in the semifinals of the Class 4 District 11 volleyball tournament on Monday.
“I tweaked the lineup a little bit to just try to give us a little more firepower in each rotation,” Webb City coach Rhonda Lawrence said. “Moving them around a little bit right before districts is risky, but with as much as we play together and practice together, I felt like we just needed to get into game mode. I felt like we started pulling together and got more in sync and into a groove, and that’s when we started making better decisions.”
The Liberators (15-12-2) and Cardinals (24-7-1) had a seesaw opening to the first set before Bolivar took all of the momentum as well as a 21-15 lead following a seven-point service run by Cora Roweton. Dailynn VanDeren had two kills, while Roweton had an ace. Webb City climbed to within three of the lead, 23-20, after a kill by Kearston Galardo and two Bolivar attack errors, but the Liberators finished off the match shortly after with a kill by VanDeren.
“I think they took (Bolivar) a little too lightly even though you warn them and warn them not to,” Lawrence said. “They know you are not supposed to do that, but that is hard to do when you haven’t seen them or have many common opponents. We have a young team, and they are going to make mental errors. We are dwindling those down little by little.”
The Cardinals held a 10-7 lead in the second set before a kill by VanDeren led to a three-point run to give Bolivar an 11-10 margin. Both teams traded points until a tip kill from Anna Hettinger gave Webb City a 21-20 advantage. Maddy Peeples earned a kill to push the lead to 24-21 before an attack error sent the Cardinals to the win.
The third set saw Bolivar open with the first point before a sideout and a seven-point service run by Sage Crane gave Webb City all of the momentum it would need.
“The confidence they have once we get up is the confidence we need to stick with,” Lawrence said. “We need to try and tap into that as quickly as possible, so it was nice that Sage got on a roll that fast. Defensively, we started coming more alive, and offensively, we started clicking a little bit better.”
Consecutive kills from Brenda Lawrence and Mackenzie Storm later in the set put the Cardinals in front 14-6, which turned into a 19-12 lead after a block by Peeples. Webb City scored five of the final six points, five coming on Bolivar errors, to seal the win.
The fourth set saw Webb City jump out to a 9-6 run behind six points in service by Galardo, who had an ace. Back-to-back kills from Roweton evened the match at 10-10 moments later.
Later in the set, with Roweton in service, the Liberators took an 18-15 lead after four straight errors by Webb City, but the Cardinals responded again. After an error forced a sideout, Webb City ripped off five straight points with Galardo in service to regain the lead, 22-19. An ace from Galardo tied it at 19-19, before a block by Storm gave Webb City the lead.
“That was a good confidence builder to see that we could handle that adversity,” Coach Lawrence said. “We got down with our backs against the wall and we started making better decisions, and were more aggressive to get right back into the groove.”
The Cardinals finished off the win with a kill by Lawrence, an ace from Kyah Sanborn and a kill by Storm.
“They have learned to push through that adversity and play better when their back is against the wall,” Lawrence said. “I really do feel like we are growing, especially the young ones. If we just keep growing and growing, that is going to be tough to beat this time of year.”
STATS
Crane, who led the team with 20 digs, had six aces, while Galardo finished with four aces to lead the Cardinals in service. Peeples had 19 kills and 11 digs, while Storm, who had two blocks, finished with nine kills and Brenda Lawrence eight. Hettinger had a team-high 25 assists, while Avery Westhoven had 10 assists and eight digs.
UP NEXT
Second-seeded Webb City hosts top-seeded Carl Junction in the Class 4 District 11 championship match at 6 p.m. on Wednesday inside the Cardinal Dome.
“It’s always going to be a fun one with us and CJ,” Coach Lawrence said. “It’s a rematch of last year’s district championship match. … They’ve already beat us twice, but our backs are against the wall, and it’s hard to beat a team three times.”
