By Brock Sisney (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
CARL JUNCTION — The Willard Lady Tigers punched their ticket to the Class 4 Final Four with a 3-0 victory (25-15, 25-13, 25-10) Saturday night over the Branson Lady Pirates in the state quarterfinals.
Earlier in the day, Willard defeated the host Carl Junction Lady Bulldogs 3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 10-25, 25-19, 15-10) in a battle of foes with a combined 53-10-1 overall record.
The Lady Tigers waited for at least three hours after that marathon victory, since Branson needed five sets of their own to beat Harrisonville in the other sectional match.
Willard and Branson traded spikes and kills for the first 12 points of their match, before Willard pulled away for the first set. Branson led 11-9 in the second set, until Willard reeled off a 10-0 run and never looked back. Willard opened the final set with the first 10 points.
“You don’t want to take anything off against any team,” Willard head coach Jamalee Hancock said. “Both matches going five, everybody came to play and win, so it took us a little bit to get back into game mode. We wanted to win in three, especially after playing a two-hour match today. It was important that we came out strong and finished.”
Volleyball has been a called a game of runs and Willard definitely generated more of them Saturday night than Branson, overpowering the Lady Pirates many times.
“In set two, they got off on that early run,” Hancock said, “but other than that, we stayed in system really well and we were able to get the ball where we wanted to on the net. Payton Van Veen and Madelyn Bushnell carry a big load for us offensively, Taylor Crighton took some great digs out of left back, and Kindall Smithson and Paige Gayer do a great job. She (Gayer) sets for us and never comes off the floor. She’s my only kid that plays six rotations and she had a fantastic day.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
Willard’s 6-foot-2 twin towers Van Veen and Bushnell combined for 34 kills and 10 blocks (Van Veen 19 kills and six blocks, Bushnell 15 and four) and they altered countless more Branson shots. Gayer distributed 36 assists and Crighton and Smithson combined for 31 digs (Crighton 19, Smithson 12).
Willard takes a 29-3-1 overall record into a semifinal match Thursday against Nerinx Hall (11-3), a private Roman Catholic school in Webster Groves that sends its volleyball team to the Final Four for the first time in school history. Nerinx Hall defeated Hillsboro 3-0 (25-16, 29-27, 25-12) and Rockwood Summit 3-2 (15-25, 15-25, 25-21, 25-20, 15-12) on Saturday to achieve their bit of history.
Willard, meanwhile, returns to the Final Four for the second time in three seasons. The 2018 team placed fourth and finished 32-5 overall.
“This will just be my fourth time since 2000,” Hancock said. “It’s so hard to get to the Final Four. We knew that we had the team to do it, but we also knew we had a couple really good teams in our path. Carl Junction gave us everything we wanted, that’s for sure. I cannot be more proud as a coach and happy, because these girls are not just talented but they’re the nicest kids and they give me 100 percent. They’re great teammates.
“They have not fought one time (this season). I mean, it’s rare. I’ve coached 21 years as a head coach and the chemistry they have and the type of people they are, it’s hard to find a group like this. I’m so happy for them. They earned it.”
Willard and Nerinx Hall are slated to start at 1:30 p.m. Thursday from Cape Girardeau’s Show Me Center. Platte County (27-6-2) and Parkway West (11-4) round out the Final Four.
St. Louis area schools Nerinx Hall and Parkway West started competition about one month later than the rest of Missouri, hence the disparity in overall matches between Willard and Nerinx Hall and Platte County and Parkway West.
Meanwhile, on Saturday night, Branson’s historic run came to an end with an 20-12-1 overall record in head coach Francie McBride’s first season at the helm of the Lady Pirates’ ship. McBride managed to find the right perspective for the entire season not long after the season-ending loss to Willard.
“We were just hoping to get a block up,” McBride said. “We did some of the time to slow it down, but give it to Willard, they’re a good team, they’re big, and we knew a couple weaknesses they had on defense and we tried our best to exploit them. They’re a great team and we’re blessed to be in this situation. Our school hasn’t won district in 28 years, so they need to be here to know what this is like and hopefully it’s a good step forward for the future. I don’t feel like we laid down and quit. That was important. I wanted to make sure they didn’t stop fighting until the very end.”
Branson fell behind two sets in their match against Harrisonville and responded with three commanding sets to reach the quarterfinals. The Lady Pirates won that match 3-2 (26-28, 23-25, 25-17, 25-10, 15-8).
“I think that was also part of not being here before,” McBride said. “Not knowing what to expect, being scared, working those nerves out, because I haven’t seen them play that bad the whole season. At least, we turned it around, worked some of those nerves out and came back, and that’s good for the future, to know that we can be in that position and climb our way back out.”
Branson seniors Morgan Leblanc, Kierstyn Harmon, and Emily Prosser closed out their high school volleyball careers by earning some hardware for their school.
“Morgan Leblanc, she’s an outstanding player,” McBride said. “She’s such an athlete and I’m so proud of her. She’s just our all-around solid player and we’re going to miss her. She’s a big part of this season. Kierstyn Harmon, our setter, she was always solid for us and Emily Prosser, also one of our middles, she had a good year. We’re going to greatly miss that bunch. We have a lot of young kids coming up. I pulled a lot of freshmen up to sit on the bench and they got a lot of playing time this year. We’ve got a great future ahead.”
Leblanc totaled 23 kills against Harrisonville and nine kills and one block against Willard. Harmon enjoyed the five sets against Harrisonville with 56 assists and she came back with 18 against Willard. Prosser finished with 18 kills against Harrisonville.
