By Dana Harding (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Featuring a pair of Final Four teams from last season, Tuesday’s Ozark-Rogersville matchup had all the makings of a heavyweight showdown.
A showdown that more than lived up to its billing.
Behind the dominant play of Birdie Hendrickson’s 24 kills, the Lady Wildcats capped a wild, third-set comeback for a 25-23, 24-26, 25-23 victory.
After splitting the first two sets with little margin for error on either side, Ozark managed to open up a sizeable lead in the third.
Down by as many as six midway through the set, Ozark’s imposing front line of Macey Putt and Julia McCown was causing all sorts of problems for Rogersville defenders.
A pair of Putt kills and an ace from Katie Vorhies boosted Ozark to an 18-12 advantage, with a surge of home-crowd momentum to go along with it.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE MATCH
From the bench, Rogersville head coach Tammy Miller looked at the score in disbelief.
“I looked at my assistant, and I’m like, ‘Are we really down 18-12, or is that wrong on the scoreboard,’” Miller said. “She’s like, ‘No … we’re down six.’ I don’t know. They just kept plugging along.
The Lady Wildcats weathered the Ozark storm and slowly began chipping away at the lead.
While McCown, in particular, found repeated openings in the Rogersville defense, small adjustments in personnel were able to slow the 6’2” junior, and attacking lanes Ozark had feasted upon throughout most of the match suddenly began to close up.
Miller talked about trying to adjust to the pair of dominant hitters.
“We got frustrated because Julia did an amazing job picking our defense apart,” Miller said. “Then, she got lined up with Gabbi Massengale late in that game, and Gabbi did a great job just opening up her hands and making her go around the block where we were. That helped our defense out.”
Rogersville clawed its way back late in the set and tied up the score at 21-21.
Equally important for the Lady Wildcats … Hendrickson rotated back to the front row.
The sophomore all-state selection didn’t waste the opportunity, either, with four late kills to help close out the match.
“I think we all knew we had to come out super aggressive to come back,” Hendrickson said. “We got that lead back and then kept it … it was awesome. We haven’t beat Ozark in a long time, and it was ten times more amazing because it was at their house.”
Miller praised her hitter’s solid performance.
“[Hendrickson] played awesome,” Miller said. “She had that coming-out game that we’ve been waiting for her to have. You’ve seen glimmers of it throughout the last year and a half, but she came out on fire tonight. She played both offensively and defensively extremely well.”
Coach Miller attributed Hendrickson’s repeated opportunities to elevated play from those around her.
“They know what they have to do to be good,” Miller said. “It takes all eight, nine of us to play at a high level. Birdie’s an amazing player, but she has an amazing support system around her. We have some great things that we do that allows her to do the things she needs to do.”
McKenna Miller led Rogersville with 37 assists, and libero Ashley Pitts notched 13 digs in the match.
For Ozark and head coach Adeana Brewer, the game turned on too many open opportunities for Rogersville attackers, particularly Hendrickson.
“I think any good team with a go-to attacker like that, it just puts pressure on our defense,” Brewer said. “We’ve got to work on blocking. That was kind of our weak point. Birdie’s going to be hard to stop, and obviously our strategy was trying to score points while she was in the back row and try to close it out.”
Despite the loss, Brewer was pleased with her team’s improved overall play over the past week.
“I don’t think this was a bad loss for us,” Brewer said. “I saw a lot of good thing from our team, and I’m not disappointed with our play at all. Hopefully we can keep our heads up, take those good things and get us moving forward in the right direction.”
Julia McCown finished with 18 kills, Kennedee Anderson added 45 assists and Brynn Bonewell notched 17 digs to lead the Lady Tigers.
Rogersville (7-2-1) travels to Branson on Thursday, Sept. 7, while Ozark (6-4) visits Carthage on Tuesday, Sept. 12.
Varsity final: Rogersville – 2, Ozark – 1 (25-23, 24-26, 25-23)
