By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
El Dorado Springs volleyball coach Ashley Rogers has stressed the need for mental toughness to her team this season, and it paid off on Thursday night in Diamond.
The visiting Bulldogs had won the first two sets before momentum shifted in the host Wildcats’ favor in the third. But El Dorado Springs outscored Diamond 19-5 to finish off the fourth set and earn a 3-1 win in a Class 2 volleyball sectional.
“They dig a couple balls or we miss a couple balls or we miss a serve, what are you going to do?” Rogers said. “That’s what we work on in practice. How are you going to turn it around, fix whatever the problem is and come back and get that next ball. We did struggle in that third set and Diamond is a great team. They were not giving up tonight for sure and they made it really hard on us to get this game but our girls fought back and our defense carried us tonight.”
The Bulldogs (28-7-1) advance to face Fair Grove on Saturday in the program’s first quarterfinal appearance since 2018.
El Dorado Springs had to get past a 33-win Diamond squad to get there, with the Wildcats entering Thursday having won 11 straight matches by a combined score of 26-1. And the visitors had to do it in a raucous atmosphere at Diamond High School.
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“I went in the locker room and said they’ve got a big crowd in there and they’ve got a lot of kids, they’re going to be loud,” Rogers said. “You’re going to have to play through it and be super vocal. They just really turned it on. We had a couple moments we struggled a little bit but for the most part they turned it on. Our defense led us tonight and that’s exactly what we needed to do to make this work.”
Diamond jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the opening set and held a 16-10 advantage before the Bulldogs mounted a 9-0 run. It was tied at 20 and 21 but El Dorado Springs moved ahead on an ace by junior Neely Schaaf and claimed a 25-23 win following a Diamond service error.
El Dorado Springs got stronger in the second set and led 15-7 following kills by Schaaf and junior Avery Floyd. It was 18-9 after a kill by sophomore Kalen Post and another ace from Schaaf, and the lead grew to 10 on a kill by junior Alexis Collins. Collins helped finish off a 25-15 win with another kill and an ace.
The Bulldogs nearly ended it in the third set after climbing back from a 15-8 hole. Diamond still led 20-14 following a tip from junior Lauren Turner, and it was 24-20 after a kill from Diamond sophomore Aubrey Ball. But El Dorado Springs got two late kills from senior AbiGayle Schmitt and tied it at 24 on an ace from senior Tenlie Steward before Diamond scored the final two points to get new life and some momentum.
With the fourth set tied at 6, the Bulldogs scored seven straight to take control, though and it was 21-11 after Floyd notched a pair of kills. Diamond wouldn’t score again.
“At the beginning I really feel like we were sluggish and looked a little intimidated,” Rogers said. “They had a great crowd and they were really loud. It was hard to hear, hard for the girls to hear calling the ball and whatnot. We just turned it on. I called a couple timeouts and that was it. I said we’re going to get this and you’re going to do it. They are a phenomenal team – Diamond is really good. They’ve had a really great year. They’re fundamentally sound but we’ve worked so hard on defense and so hard on the fundamentals.”
Diamond, which was seeking its first sectional win since 1996, finishes with a 33-5-1 record.
“It’s been a pretty incredible year,” Diamond coach Haley Wheeler said. “I definitely expected us to have a winning season, but I didn’t expect it to end with a sectional run. Obviously, you hope you can go farther and you can be the one who ends your season with a win but I’m really proud of how the girls have bought into the weight room and into the mentality we rolled with this season. We’re hopeful next year we can have even more buy-in in the weight room and in the preseason so we don’t have to end here.”
El Dorado Springs has now won 14 of 15 matches including five straight and gets a rematch with Fair Grove (31-2-2), which won 3-0 in late September.
