By Scott Vanscoy (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Saturday night the Lesterville Bearcats defeated the College Heights Cougars in three straight sets, 25-16, 25-17, 25-22. This marks the Bearcats’ fifth trip to the Final Four, but the first since 2009.
“We’ve been to the final eight the past four years and we just couldn’t get over the hump so this is a major deal for us,” said Lesterville coach Betsy Middleton. “At the beginning of the year we were just happy to be playing; we didn’t think we were going to get to play because of the Coronavirus. Every day has been a gift to us and trying to keep them safe, it’s been a struggle.”
Lesterville never trailed in any of the sets but College Heights never stopped fighting. Although the Cougars dropped all three sets, their coach was proud of her girls and their tenacity.
“Obviously, Lesterville is a super solid team with some powerful hitters,” said College Heights coach Mary Colin. “Our goal was to just play our best and to play solid, consistent and aggressive. High school athletes tend to almost relax and play it safe and there’s no playing safe with this team. We came out super, super aggressive, as aggressive as we could, putting up a triple block on the outside which Lesterville reacted to and were really smart and started taking that ball away.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
After putting the first two sets away, Lesterville jumped out to a 15-8 lead in the third set but the Cougars clawed their way back into the match little by little. With the score 20-11 in favor of the Bearcats the Cougars rattled off five straight points to make it 20-16. Lesterville would score three straight only to be countered by three from College Heights, bringing the score to 23-19. The Cougars got within 24-22 before the Bearcats got the win.
“That was fun, it was great,” said Colin. “We were trying to serve aggressively to try to take them a little bit out of their system, and then block aggressively at the net and then turn it around into some offense. For us, that is all I could ask for. We didn’t crumble; we didn’t turn on each other like you’ll see high school girls do. We kept building each other up and literally fought to the very end. I’m very proud of that.”
One of the big hitters for Lesterville was their only senior, Mallory Polk. Polk, whose teams reached the Elite Eight the past three years but came up short of reaching the Final Four, is thrilled to finally get there her senior year.
“It was amazing, I had so much fun playing,” said Polk. “We were so hyped up for this game, we were all so ready for it. We’ve come so far from the beginning of the season. It feels so good, I’ve never been this far and I love it. I think we can do it, I think we can go all the way. I’m so ready!”
With only one senior and three juniors on her team, Lesterville’s coach Middleton is pleasantly surprised on getting to the Final Four.
“Oh my gosh, it is super exciting,” said Middleton. “My lone senior, Mallory Polk, is a wonderful kid and she really stepped up tonight. This team just loves to be together and loves to play ball. You can tell that they love each other. They just have fun. Even when they mess up they are good to each other. I love my girls, they are special. I’m super proud of them and so excited they get to go and have the experience.”
Lesterville 25 25 25
College Heights 16 17 22
