By Josh Mlot (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — This wasn’t how the Strafford volleyball team wanted its journey to end, but what a journey nonetheless.
Two years after falling in the state championship and a year after getting upset in the sectional round, the Indians went toe-to-toe with defending state champion St. Pius X but let a first-set victory fall by the wayside in a 2-1 (23-25, 25-8, 25-22) loss in the Class 2 State Championship on Saturday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
Strafford (32-5-3) battled back after a second-set collapse and was tied as late as 21-21 in the third and final game. Those final few points, though, proved to be a mountain too high to climb.
“My kids played hard and they never gave up, but I really didn’t feel like we had that confidence, necessarily, out on the court, especially after that second set,” Strafford coach Ashley Bough said. “It was hard to get that back after having that kind of game.”
In the aftermath, there were tears of frustration and disappointment, but an undercurrent of appreciation remained after a highly-successful era for the Indians.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
“Honestly, whenever it comes down to a big game like this, the only negative is the loss,” Strafford senior Chloe Rear said. “You get to play with all the people you’ve grown up with and [been with] since Day 1. Just getting the opportunity, to me, is a huge blessing, and having our community come out and support us means more than anything to us
“Really, the only negative thing I take from it is coming that close. There’s nothing else about it that I’d trade for the world.”
Rear, who will continue her career at Missouri State, led all players with 19 kills and added nine assists, five digs and a block.
Karly Soden paced the Indians with 11 assists while Allisann Nichols had a team-high 12 digs and three service aces.
St. Pius X (27-8-1) got 15 kills and three blocks from middle hitter Emma Grimshaw, while Trisha Gaylord added nine kills and Carley Nicholson had 31 assists.
The Lancers finished with a .240 hitting percentage, while Strafford hit .076.
It is a second consecutive Class 2 title for St. Pius and a third title-match appearance in three years (in Class 3 prior to 2016).
Little separated the sides in the opening game, as the point differential reached three just once — at 21-19 — as the teams traded points.
Tied at 22, a St. Pius fault nudged Strafford in front, and the Indians held on with Mica Chadwell serving.
Strafford closed out the set on a three-point run — the longest by either team in the game.
Unfortunately for the Indians, that turned out to the high point of the match.
St. Pius responded with full force in the second set, opening up an 8-2 advantage and never looking back.
“[St. Pius] stepped their game up,” Bough said. “I felt like they used our win the first set as momentum to get themselves going. We knew we had to defend their middle attack, and I felt like we kind of fell short. Also, we came out that second set and made the first four or five errors, which you can’t have in a game like this. I felt like we were constantly trying to claw our way back, and they, obviously, didn’t let up in that situation.”
The Indians had a match-high eight errors in each of the final two sets.
Strafford earned back-to-back points on consecutive Rear kills, making the deficit 10-5, but the Lancers put together a five-point swing capped by a Gaylord kill that put the defending champs up 15-5.
With the Indians reeling, St. Pius took 10 of the next 13 points to convincingly even the match up at one game apiece.
The decisive third set looked much more like the first, though the Lancers carried momentum over and jumped out to a 5-0 advantage.
Strafford began to chip away, and a hitting error by the Lancers put the Indians within two points and gave them serve.
That opened up Strafford’s longest swing of the match, as the Indians took six consecutive points to leapfrog the Lancers.
A tip kill by Rear was followed by a nearly identical attack from Madylin Wiertzema to give Strafford a 10-9 lead. Wiertzema then came up with a block at the net and Emma Webb got a service ace as the Indians went up 12-9.
St. Pius, though, responded in kind, as a kill by Gaylord took some of the air out of things for Strafford, and the Lancers used a five-point run to swing back into the lead, 14-12.
The Indians took advantage of back-to-back errors by St. Pius to knot things at 21-all, but a kill by Grimshaw put the Lancers on top for good, as they took four of the next five points to clinch a second straight state title.
“They fought and St. Pius was smart with the ball,” Bough said. “They put the ball where a couple of our weaknesses were and we just couldn’t quite get it going there at the end.”
The result marks the end for four Indians seniors — Rear, Soden, Madison Bowles and Emma Webb.
“I invest a lot in these players. They mean more to me than just players,” Bough said. “I told them my favorite part of this experience is getting to know them as people and hopefully teaching them something. … That’s my favorite part of getting to do what I do. I love these kids.
“These seniors, I had a great experience with them all and I cherish them. … So, I’m proud of them and this class has been great and these last three years have been a great experience. I’m extremely grateful because there are a lot of teams that would love to be in this situation.”
Even if the end result wasn’t the desired one.
