By Jordan Burton (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
As the old adage goes, if at first you don’t succeed, try again.
For Billings, those words were never truer than on Tuesday night.
Seeing a Miller team that had beaten them twice during the regular season, the Lady Wildcats responded with their most inspired volleyball of the season, shocking No. 1 seed Miller 25-19, 25-18 to claim the Class 1 – District 8 Championship at Greenfield High School.
“This one is especially sweet for us because we’ve played Miller four times now, with them beating us twice, so this is a sweet win for us,” said Billings coach Brandi Sullivan. “Something we truly had to fight for.”
Miller took five of seven sets during the regular season, including topping the Lady Cats in the championship of the Sparta Classic. The Lady Cards swept the regular season meeting in Miller and the two squads split a pair of sets at the Ash Grove Tournament.
Coming into Tuesday, Sullivan felt comfortable with what Miller would try to do on the other side of the net, so she made a few adjustments with her team’s attack in hopes of neutralizing Miller standout Bethany Gulick, who entered Tuesday with more than 300 kills – 35 of which had come against Billings.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
“We made a little tweak with our serve receive to give our hitters some better options,” said Sullivan. “We also worked defensively on crossing our block and giving them that line shot.”
The results were a mixed bag, with Miller’s other hitters getting going early in both sets. However, the junior trio of Bailey Groves, Morgan Heimer and Bailie Williams were able to keep pace.
Oddly enough, both sets were tied at 10 points apiece before Billings mounted similar 15-9 and 15-8 runs to end the set.
Sullivan believes her teams benefitted from being on this stage before, with this current group of seniors playing for and winning their third consecutive district championship.
“Our experience is a big help,” said Sullivan. “We are mostly juniors and seniors and they’re a little bit more prepared mentally for a championship game like this. We’ve learned to play in tight situations. It helped us last year and paid off again tonight.”
For the third year in a row, Billings will have a chance to play for a Final Four berth on a Saturday. The last two opportunities have produced a variety of results with Billings losing to Miller in last year’s Sectionals. Back in 2016 the Lady Cats lost to Eminence in the Elite Eight.
Billings is hoping to again extend their season and make the 12th district championship in program history result in its first-ever trip to Cape Girardeau and the Final Four.
“I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls. They work hard. They come to the gym wanting to get better every single day. They want to continue the tradition.”
Billings will play the District 7 winner at on Saturday at a time to be determined. The Lady Cats went undefeated against District 7, including sweeps against top-seeded Crane and Hurley. The winner will advance to play either Blue Eye or the Lesterville/Winona winner in the Class 1 quarterfinals.
PHOTOS: MILLER 2, GREENFIELD 0 – CLICK HERE
PHOTOS: BILLINGS 2, LOCKWOOD 0 – CLICK HERE
