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By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Clever, Mo. — The last time either Strafford or Fair Grove didn’t win a district title, Sarah Palin was talking about being able to see Russia from her house.
Ten years later, things haven’t changed much in the volleyball world.
Strafford vanquished its arch-rival Tuesday night in straight sets (25-23, 25-22), capturing its fifth-straight Class 2 District 10 title.
A trio of seniors led the charge for the Lady Indians.
Katie Waitman notched a team-high eight kills, Kaitlyn Messina added 14 assists and Allison Nichols finished with 12 digs in the match.
Despite the victory, the Lady Indians were forced into the underdog role against the No. 1 seed.
And for good reason.
Fair Grove dropped Strafford twice during the regular season, losing only a single set in the process.
After beating Clever in straight sets to reach the final, Lady Indians head coach Ashley Bough knew the title match would be a huge mental hurdle for her team.
“Tonight, I knew, would be one of the hardest night we’ve had this year,” Bough said. “We psyche ourselves out when we play Fair Grove — every single time.”
Early on, Strafford didn’t do much to counter Bough’s claims.
In the first set, the Lady Indians committed a handful of early errors — including five from the service line.
“I thought we were out of that phase,” Bough said. “Last year, one of our biggest nemeses was missed serves — unforced errors — and I thought we’d kind of gotten a handle on that, but these last couple games I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh! We’re just giving them free points.’ You can’t do that in big games like this.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
Fortunately for Strafford, the score remained deadlocked within a couple points either way throughout most of the set thanks to inspired defensive play keyed by the libero Nichols.
“We all struggled in (serving errors) tonight,” Nichols said. “But we always think next-ball, and we come back with fire and try our best not to miss more than two or three points.”
A kill from junior Micah Chadwell finally pushed the Lady Indians to a 25-23 opening-set win and a crucial lead in the match.
The second set started off much like the first, with both teams exchanging serving errors.
With the score tied 1-1, Strafford senior Victoria Schoen notched an ace that kicked off a 12-4 rally and seized momentum for the Lady Indians.
“We were able to kind of get (Fair Grove) rattled,” Bough said. “We missed a serve, they missed a serve and then we aced them. Then we turned it on, defensively, and I felt like we were picking things up and getting them out of system.”
Back-to-back kills from Sidney Hill and Alana Findley helped Fair Grove stem the tide and cut into the lead, but the Lady Eagles were unable to maintain the run.
Kills from Waitman and Chadwell quickly sparked another Strafford rally.
In the meantime, Strafford’s aggressive service strategy made it difficult for Fair Grove to consistently play in system.
“We really tried to go at their setter so they couldn’t be in their offense,” Bough said. “That was huge because, when they’re in their offense, they’re good.”
Also huge was the Lady Indian defense, keyed by Nichols’ ability to react to Fair Grove’s potent front line of Findley, Hill and Harley Maxwell.
“We had practiced different ways that we could read the hitters,” Nichols said. “I just read the hitters really well. I watched their arms and just dug as many balls as I could.”
Strafford pushed its lead to 21-14 late in the set before Fair Grove mounted one final rally keyed by an ace from junior Maranntha Holliman and host of kills from both Findley and Hill.
While the Lady Eagles were able to cut the Strafford lead to a mere 24-22, junior Sue Wiertzema answered with a thunderous kill to propel the Lady Indians to a 25-22 victory, a District 10 title and a sectional round berth in the Class 2 playoff.
After the match, an emotional Wiertzema reflected on the championship point.
“I just went up, and my arm just did its thing,” Wiertzema said. “I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, did I just do that?’ I was just flabbergasted, and my mind was blown.”
For Fair Grove and head coach Tonya Peck, the loss marks the end of the line for an extremely talented senior class.
“It wasn’t a typical end-of-season speech for me,” Peck said. “I was frustrated, because we did not play well. Obviously, Strafford did some things that made us not play well, but this group of kids; they fought through that and losing for four years in a row. I talked about how, in life, you can’t quit, you can’t fold and you can’t get the deer-in-the-headlights look and run. I told them if there was anything they were going to get out of playing volleyball for me, it was to use this to learn how to persevere.”
Findley led Fair Grove with nine kills, 12 digs and four blocks. Classmate Ryah Icenhower finished with 11 assists and 11 digs, while Holliman added ten digs and two aces.
The Lady Eagles finish the season with a 27-6-2 record.
Up next for Strafford (26-5-1) is a sectional-round matchup with District 9 champion Mountain View/Birch Tree – Liberty. The Lady Eagles will host the contest Saturday, Oct. 27
Varsity final: Strafford – 2, Fair Grove – 0 (25-23, 25-22)
