By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Seeking a third win against Ozark in less than three weeks, the Carl Junction volleyball team had to dig deep on Thursday night.
Trailing 2-1 on the night, the Bulldogs found themselves tied at 16 in the fourth set and facing the possibility of their first home court loss since the season opener in August.
“That’s exactly what we talked to them about, it’s time to dig deep and make some things happen and I feel like we did that,” Carl Junction coach Cheryl Sharples said. “Our serve and pass got better at about 16-16 in that fourth one and then we took control of it and never looked back.
Carl Junction (17-3, 4-1) went on to outscore Ozark 24-15 in closing out the match, winning the fourth set 25-21 and the fifth 15-10.
Ozark (12-7-2, 4-2) set the tone early with a 25-19 win in the first set. It was tied at 14, 15 and 16 before the Tigers mounted a 7-0 run to take control. A service error broke the tie and senior Hanna Vorhies added to the lead with a kill.
The second set was a different story. The Bulldogs asserted control early with a 11-0 run to lead 15-6 with help from a tip and an ace by sophomore Logan Jones, a pair of kills by senior Salma Lewis and another by freshman Kylie Scott. Carl Junction cruised from there to a 25-14 win.
That momentum was fleeting, though.
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A focus in practice on the third set paid off for the visitors, who turned a 6-6 tie into a five-point lead and kept Carl Junction at bay. A kill by senior Savannah Eisman made it 20-13 and the lead grew to eight points before the Bulldogs made a late run.
A pair of aces from sophomore Destiny Buerge and two points by senior Jillian Kennedy cut it to 22-20, but Vorhies came up with a big swing and junior Madison Satterly finished off the set with an ace to win 25-20.
“Third set’s been something we have been working on in our gym, having a more productive third set,” Ozark coach Adeana Brewer said. “It was nice to see our team kind of come back and recover from a loss in the second set. I thought that would create some momentum for us.”
Then came the crucial fourth set. Ozark led 10-7 after an ace by senior Kinsey McAllister, but the Bulldogs answered with three-straight points by Lewis, including an ace to tie it. The set was tied again at 11 and 13, and then at 16 on a kill Ozark junior Kelly Sims.
Carl Junction led 19-18 after a kill by Ozark senior Ella Scott, but Lewis answered to make it a two-point game. Ozark was still within two at 23-21, but kills from junior Jessa Hylton and Lewis ended it.
Hylton and Lewis again scored back-to-back points to make it 8-5 in the fifth set, and another Hylton kill made it 11-8. It was 13-8 after an ace by Hylton, and a Lewis kill had Ozark against the ropes, down 14-9.
A shot out of bounds ended it.
“I knew it was going to be a battle,” Sharples said. “This is the third time we’ve played them this year and I knew it was going to be that type of a game. We wanted to remain calm and not get caught up too much in the emotion of the game and just play our game and do what we needed to do.”
“We have to do a better job closing,” Brewer said. “That’s something our team has struggled with and it’s a focus, it’s something we need to capitalize on, especially playing five sets now. I felt like we played competitively but just closing out the deal is something we have to get better at.”
Hylton had 24 digs and 17 kills for Carl Junction. Kennedy had four blocks, Logan Jones had 49 assists, Lewis had 19 kills and Kennedy added 17 kills.
“Our outsides did a great job executing after awhile,” Sharples said. “It took us a while to adjust to their block, then we kind of found it and started hitting around it. Jill took some really big swings for us at different times to open things up for our outsides.”
For Ozark, Madison Reed and Madison Satterly each had 12 digs, Vorhies had 11 kills, Ella Scott had 35 assists and Hannah Tadlock had six blocks.
