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By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
For senior volleyball standout Bay Ivie and the Rogersville Lady Wildcats, the nerves came early. Then again, it was understandable.
On Tuesday night, the curtain rose on the postseason for a team that has state championship aspirations.
“We did have nerves. But we got a lot of pep talks and we got a lot of mind-shakings, and we figured out how to get through it,” Ivie said.
Did they ever.
Rogersville showed its prowess by winning the Class 3 District 11 Tournament championship, beating the Marshfield Lady Jays in straight sets (25-9, 25-18) in the final after shucking aside Springfield Catholic in straight sets (25-12, 25-8) in a semifinal at Marshfield High School.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
With it, Rogersville, now 31-4, advanced to a sectional on Saturday at home, time to be determined. The Lady Wildcats enter on a 20-game win streak and should be formidable with the way their front line played Tuesday.
Against Marshfield, McKenna Miller had 12 assists while freshman Birdie Hendrickson and Gabby Massengale each had eight kills. Ivie had three blocks, and Ashley Pitts six digs. Miller had 18 assists against Catholic, with Ivie contributing six blocks and Hendrickson six kills.
Rogersville also ran out to a 7-0 advantage in the opening set against Marshfield, which kept the next set competitive. Marshfield pulled within 18-15 at one point.
“We played pretty good,” Rogersville coach Tammy Miller said. “The second game, I felt like we fell off a little and made some mistakes that we probably didn’t need to make. But we capitalized on errors and came through.”
Said senior setting Ashley Pierson, “We started off a little slow the first game (against Catholic), but we definitely got into a rhythm. We just carried it through the second game.”
Marshfield ends its season at 16-17-1, although the Lady Jays saw much improvement this fall.
For one, the Lady Jays reached the district championship match a year after being a first-round casualty. They also beefed up the schedule, with the overall record less important than being district tournament-ready. And they were. The Lady Jays dispatched Mountain Gove in straight sets.
Lydia McCall had 10 kills, Alexis Moon 28 assists and Madison Padgett nine digs against Mountain Grove. Moon had 12 assists and Bethany Freeman four digs against Rogersville. Padgett had a couple of key digs in the second set against Rogersville, extending plays and keeping the Lady Jays within striking distance.
Marshfield graduates Savanna Vance, Freeman and McCall.
“Every point earned tonight was hard-fought, and I’m very proud of my girls for getting so close in the second set and making them call a timeout,” Marshfield coach Kailey Bridges said. “They kept us to pretty low numbers when we saw them in conference play, and we thought we were a better team than that. We wanted to make sure we were doing the little things, playing scrappy defense and serve-receiving well.”
Meanwhile, the season goes on for Rogersville.
“Right now, we’re just saying don’t be happy with the little things. You’ve got to keep getting better. Sectionals is still something we have to get better every day towards,” Ivie said. “Practices from now on are going to be intense.”
