By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Jasper’s volleyball team continued a dominant season on Monday night as the top-seeded Eagles earned a 3-0 win against second seed Liberal in the Class 1 District 11 championship match on the Bulldogs’ home court.
Jasper improved to 34-1-1 and notched its second district title in a row while setting up a Thursday sectional contest against Archie.
“It’s a very humbling experience,” Jasper coach Brianna Vinson said. “These girls have put in so much hard work. They’re there in the summers for their camps. They’re there in the weight room. They’re working all the time, especially over winter doing club volleyball. Just to know they’ve put in so much hard work and they’ve made it with the record they have and winning districts, their hard work is paying off and I’m really excited to see how it pays off going forward.”
The Eagles, who’ve only dropped five sets all season, won for the second time this fall against Liberal, but Vinson expected an improved Bulldogs squad on Monday and Liberal proved it in a close first set.
Liberal led by as many as three points early and still clung to a 19-17 advantage, but Jasper rallied to tie it and senior Livia Dumm gave the Eagles the lead with an ace. It was tied again at 20 before Jasper scored four straight, and junior Crystal Smith capped a 25-21 win with one of several kills on the night.
She tallied at least seven in the first set, and racked up three in a row at one point in the second to make it a 13-7 contest. After Liberal ended the run, Smith answered with two more points to make it 15-8, and after a Smith tip and an ace from junior Alyssa Osborne, the visitors had doubled up the score at 18-9. Jasper scored five of the next six points to win 25-11.
The third set was another tough one, with Liberal leading 11-7 before Jasper rallied to take the lead with a 6-0 run. The Bulldogs tied it at 16, 17 and 18 but Smith tallied two kills and a block and senior Laney Cawyer added an ace to push the lead to five. Smith sealed the win with a tip to make it 25-19.
“Serve receiving was huge,” Vinson said. “We played Liberal at the beginning of the season and we knew that they had improved a lot and serving and hitting was going to be one of those areas. I knew my serving line had to be on their top game. I thought they did well tonight, and with our hitting game as well.”
Jasper tallied 11 aces in the contest, with Osborne and Cawyer each earning three, Shiloh Storm and Smith each earning two and Dumm notching one.
“They did everything I asked them to do,” Liberal coach Kim Spencer said. “I felt like they gave it their all. We have a ton of seniors on our team. It’s a tough loss but to a good team.”
“Obviously they have Crystal (Smith),” she said. “She’s very hard to stop and they execute things really well.”
Jasper, which bowed out in the sectional round last fall, will be getting another rematch with Archie on Thursday with an eye on the quarterfinals. The Eagles won 3-0 in September.
