By Kai Raymer (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Nothing like a big shot of confidence right before the postseason.
Two weeks removed from handing Ozark its second loss of the season, the Nixa Lady Eagles proved Tuesday night that it was no fluke.
Nixa swept its way to a district championship, beating Ozark 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-21) on the Lady Tigers’ home court in the Class 5 District 6 tournament championship game.
On Oct. 14, Nixa defeated Ozark in a five-set thriller to earn the COC-East crown. That late-season showdown came at an opportune time, said Nixa coach Annie Zimmerman.
“The great thing is, it gave us the whole season to work through rotations or find our groove and niche as a team,” she said. “I felt really good going into that conference game. We had found something that was working well for us.
“When we were able to get that win and have success, we didn’t really change anything between the two games. Our kids were hungry for it, very driven and they weren’t going to be denied.”
The regular season win did not satisfy Nixa’s hunger. The Lady Eagles had gone 0-4 against Ozark since 2023, including a pair of season-ending losses in districts.
“We learned that we could beat them. Because it had been a long time since we had,” said Nixa senior Gwen Kubik.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
The latest victory gives Nixa its first district volleyball title since 2021, when the Lady Eagles won three in a row (2019-21) amid back-to-back final fours and a state championship.
In Tuesday’s match, Nixa pulled away down the stretch in set one and set three. The Lady Eagles overcame an 18-15 deficit in the third set to clinch the sweep.
Nixa’s serving and passing helped the Lady Eagles put the pace of the match in their favor.
“Our ball control, our serve and pass, was so good,” Zimmerman said. “We talk about it a ton – every single day – how important that is. Even though we had some serving errors tonight, especially early in that third set, our kids stuck to our serving gameplan and that made a big difference for us.
“And our serve-receive passing was clutch pretty much all night.”
Senior Taylor Wood led Nixa with 12 kills, plus nine digs and a team-high 14 assists. Kubik and Addy Bybee added seven kills apiece.
Mara Coulter tallied 23 digs. Sophomore setter Peyton Creed had 12 assists.
“No peaks, no valleys. We wanted to stay as consistent as possible. Our kids did a really good job of keeping that consistent energy,” Zimmerman said.
Nixa (27-9 overall) will play at Blue Springs South (9-26 overall) in the Class 5 quarterfinal round this Saturday, Nov. 1. Blue Springs South pulled off a Cinderella-type run to win its district tournament as the No. 7 seed in an eight-team district.
Amid its nine losses, Nixa became more resilient.
“We learned how to lose,” Kubik said. “We could lose one set, then come back stronger.”
Nixa’s losses to in-state opponents this season included Helias Catholic (32-1-1 overall), Lafayette-Wildwood (37-1 overall), Jackson (36-3 overall) and Lee’s Summit West (25-6 overall).
CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE MATCH
The Lady Eagles have won 12 in a row since early October, including their bracket in the Ozark Grand Slam two weeks ago,
“We always try to play as competitive of a schedule as we can,” Zimmerman said. “Even if that means taking a few losses here or there, that’s the only thing that’s going to help us be able to get to this level of play when we get to the postseason.”
Ozark finishes 32-3 overall. Two of its losses were to Nixa. The other loss was against three-time defending state champion Lafayette-Wildwood in the Ozark Grand Slam.
The Lady Tigers will graduate seven seniors. Tara Venable, one of the seven seniors and a Missouri State signee, had 14 kills in Tuesday’s match.
