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By Michael Cignoli (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
ROGERSVILLE — The Logan-Rogersville volleyball team didn’t need to hear an extravagant motivational speech prior to the Class 4 District 11 championship match on Tuesday evening.
Their opponent gave the Wildcats all the inspiration they needed.
After Willard snapped Logan-Rogersville’s streak of eight consecutive district titles with a victory in last year’s championship game, the Wildcats were determined to avoid a similar fate this fall. A five-set Willard victory during the regular season only added more fuel to the fire.
“We wanted to beat them so bad,” Logan-Rogersville setter Lauren Tyler said. “It was our main focus all throughout the year. … The momentum was there tonight and we played our hearts out.”
Indeed they did, Wildcats coach Emily Hutcheson added, noting she hardly had to say anything prior to the 3-1 victory over the defending state champions that gave the program its 12th district title since 2008 and ended Willard’s run of seven consecutive district championships.
“The girls were just really confident going into tonight,” Hutcheson said. “I kind of just tried to not mess with their energy or how they were feeling. They felt really good going into tonight and a couple of things go our way and that just feeds the energy that they have and they just took off.”
Very little went wrong for Logan-Rogersville throughout the 25-8, 18-25, 25-21, 25-18 victory, particularly in an opening set they closed out with a dominant and game-defining 20-4 run.
“They were very defensively sound and they served really aggressively,” Willard coach Jamalee Hancock said. “We kind of got on our heels a little bit. I think Rogersville played exceptionally well. Then we were making a few errors on our side, but they came out and challenged us.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
That was important, the Wildcats said, because of how last year’s district title match ended. Willard jumped out to a 2-0 lead in that game and squashed a late rally in a 3-1 victory.
This year, the Wildcats wanted to start much stronger — and had the motivation to do so.
“We just came out with a lot of energy,” Logan-Rogersville senior Brianna Linehan said. “We wanted revenge because we lost to them the last time we played them.”
The Wildcats faltered briefly in the second set, falling behind 7-2 early and never being able to fully erase the deficit. They fought back to within a point, but Willard called a timeout with an 18-17 advantage and closed things out with a 7-1 run to tie the match at one set apiece.
But that run was the last time the Tigers led, as Logan-Rogersville built early leads in the third (six points) and fourth (eight points) sets and held on despite Willard’s own bid at a comeback.
The Tigers got within two points of the Wildcats on four separate occasions during what was a must-win fourth set, but each time Logan-Rogersville came up with a huge kill to slam the door.
“That was good volleyball,” Hutcheson said. “I mean, Willard was digging everything our hitters were giving to them and then vice versa. We were doing the exact same thing, so it’s a back and forth. At that point, it’s going to go how it’s going to go and everybody is pouring their heart out on the court. It just worked in our favor.”
The game felt similar to a regular-season victory over Springfield Catholic that helped the Wildcats secure the Big 8 East championship, in that Logan-Rogersville’s blocking at the net and digging on the back row made it exceptionally challenging for Willard to get balls through.
With solid defense and Linehan, Katelyn Crossland, Zoe Reel and Olivia Frieze leading the attack, their latest win was as close to a perfect game as the Wildcats have played this season.
“They played really great,” Hancock said. “We were fighting hard and battling back. We got down and we’re always trying to catch up, but I’ve watched them play several times. I think they put it together about as good as they can tonight.”
Part of that was scouting, Wildcats libero Natalie Scott said, but it was mostly something else.
“Yesterday we practiced a lot on Willard’s hitting and all of their rotations,” Scott said. “That helped a lot, but tonight our energy was so high it allowed us to stay focused and we had a high drive for just getting every single ball up.”
Scott credited the Logan-Rogersville student section for helping maintain the energy, as last year’s title game was played on the road. Playing in friendlier confines made a huge difference.
“The environment that we’re so used to really helps us,” Scott said.
The win ensured the Wildcats (20-11-1) will play another game in that environment, as they will host District 12 champion Webb City (19-12-2) in a sectional match at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
The Cardinals beat the Wildcats, 2-1, at Willard’s Lori Endicott Memorial Tournament this month.
“It’ll be nice to have a full five-set match against them,” Hutcheson said. “They’re a good blocking team. It took us a while to adjust to their defense. If we make those adjustments early on, I think we can handle them. Again, everybody knows what they’re fighting for.”
Top-seeded Willard ended the season 27-4-1 and will lose seven seniors to graduation.
The Class of 2022 has seen the varsity club go 121-17-2 in their four years at the school, including two trips to the Final Four and the school’s first state championship in 39 years.
“They’ve been a part of a lot of success, so it’s hard for them to swallow losing this one,” Hancock said. “But we knew coming in — I told people we were very evenly matched teams. The seeds don’t really mean anything. … We knew it would take everything we had to come in here and win tonight.”
