By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
REPUBLIC – You might think that winning their first district title in 14 years would be all the Kickapoo Volleychiefs would be thinking about after rallying for a 3-1 Class 5 District 6 Championship victory over Nixa on Tuesday night.
But the first comments from Kickapoo coach Marci Adams and senior leader Grace Gardner concerned its history, and its future, as this year’s squad captured its first district title since 2008.
“It just takes one group, you know,” Adams said about her team, which had finished as district runner-up to Nixa each of the past three seasons. “And this is for all the ones in the past and all the ones in the future, and of course, this group right here. So, it doesn’t happen without everything in front of it.”
“It feels amazing to be a senior, and I played for every alumni of Kickapoo – I played for all of them,” Gardner added. “We were one team this year.”
The Volleychiefs, who improved to 29-8 overall, dropped the first set as Nixa used runs of 4-0 and 3-0 to provide the cushion the Eagles would need to take the first set 25-18.
But to bring home a championship, Kickapoo still had to win three sets, which would not be easy against the Eagles, who were looking for their fourth-straight district title.
The Volleychiefs used their own 4-0 run to open the second set and a 3-0 run, but Nixa tied it up at 20 before the teams battled back and forth to close out the set. With Kickapoo leading 24-23, the Volleychiefs fired a shot at Nixa that the entire gym thought was the set-winner. An impressive dig by the Eagles extended the rally, but a heads-up play by Hannah Gardner – a shot in Nixa’s open court – secured the set for Kickapoo, 25-23.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
In the third, with Nixa leading 15-14, Kickapoo junior Kya Johnson stepped up to the service line and served six straight to give the Volleychiefs a 20-15 lead, capped by a kill from Grace Gardner.
“That kid would do anything for this team and that point, we needed her to serve and that’s what she did,” Adams said of Johnson, as Kickapoo rolled to take the third set 25-18.
Nixa raced to an 8-3 lead early in the fourth, Kickapoo rallied to tie it at 10 and it was again a back-and-forth battle before the Volleychiefs secured their district championship, 25-23.
“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to them,” Adams said of the Lady Eagles, who finished their season at 29-8. “They’re well-coached and they’re a group of girls with a lot of skill. We just had to look to each other for those answers and bounce back. It’s all about the next point, the next set; and that’s what these girls did.”
Nixa coach Annie Zimmerman, whose Lady Eagles defeated Kickapoo 3-2 on Sept. 8, knew it was going to be a battle – as all Nixa-Kickapoo matchups are. In the last calendar year, Nixa and Kickapoo have met in a district tournament for volleyball, softball, boys’ and girls’ tennis, boys’ soccer and baseball.
“That’s what good volleyball is,” Zimmerman said. “You have teams that may trade points for a while, and it can be a small run of two or three points that can make the difference in a set. And I think that happened tonight a couple of times.
“And definitely credit to Kickapoo. Even when we had a little bit of a lead, we knew… We talked about it – they are not going to go away. They are going to keep coming at you and they’re going to find ways to score. You have to kind of weather those storms and just stay focused on what we are doing and what we are trying to execute on our side.
“I thought my kids, for the most part, did a good job executing what we wanted. But a few costly errors here and there, and Kickapoo coming up with some really big plays and just scoring points when they had to, was the difference.”
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE MATCH
The Volleychiefs will host the team they lost to in their first match of the season, Columbia Rock Bridge, on Saturday, Oct. 29, in the Class 5 quarterfinals.
Grace Gardner is ready – blisters and all.
“I trusted in my teammates; I knew that I could get through with injuries,” Gardner said of playing with blisters on the balls of her feet Tuesday. “We all trust each other and we can battle through together, even with the injury. Mentally, I had to do it, too. But as a team, we’ve worked together to get through it all.”
And that’s what senior leadership is about.
“That’s an example of what that kid is; she’ll play through anything,” Adams said. “She might make an error here and there, but she wants the ball and her team knows that they can count on her.”
