By: Lucas Davis
It is always entertaining when Carl Junction and Webb City meet on the volleyball court and Tuesday's matchup was no different.
No. 10 Carl Junction went on the road and earned a 25-23, 22-25, 26-24 and 25-23 win in four sets against conference, district and area rival No. 3 Webb City on Tuesday inside the Cardinal Dome.
"We haven't beaten them in two years, so this was a good step forward for us and, simply, the mentality of our kids," Carl Junction coach Cheryl Sharples said. "I was really proud of our kids. They had a game plan, stuck to it and executed the things we needed to."
"We definitely were not playing up to our potential," Webb City coach Rhonda Lawrence said. "We allowed them to cause us to make errors, and that's what it comes down to. In volleyball, you're trying to make the other team screw up and (Carl Junction) did a great job of that. We didn't execute on offense or defense the way we had planned on and were not playing like we can. If you are not going to show up playing your best against a rival team, you're going to lose every time."
Carl Junction took early control in the first set and never relinquished it. The Bulldogs started on a 5-1 advantage thanks to two kills and a block from Karissa Chase as well as an ace from Aubreigh Fowler.
Playing with the lead, Carl Junction rode the striking prowess of senior Kylie Scott, who tallied six kills and a block on the way to giving the Bulldogs a 21-16 advantage late.
"Our bigs were really key," Sharples said of the first set. "Both Rissa and Kylie had a good game, but I was really proud of Aubreigh Fowler, who came around and had a nice game for us. Our middles were working hard. We need to figure out how to get them a little more offensively involved, but every kid was out there working hard for us."
Webb City got consecutive kills from Jaeli Rutledge and Mia Lenker to trim the deficit to two, 23-21.
After both teams traded sideouts, Carl Junction's Jocelyn Wengert earned a kill from the back, middle to seal the first-set win in favor of the Bulldogs.
It was neck and neck in the second set until a sideout kill from Jadyn Howard followed by a three-point service run from Scott gave CJ the first five-point lead of the set, with the Bulldogs up 19-14.
Webb City rallied hard, using a sideout kill from Kirra Long and four points in service from Aubree Lassiter to tie things up at 19s. Scott and Makayla Mayes traded sideout kills before Rutledge added a block and a kill to give the Cardinals their first real advantage, 22-20.
Webb City didn't waver in the final moments of the second set to tie it up at 1-1.
The third set was filled with unforced errors on both sides that saw Carl Junction take an early lead that turned into a 16-12 advantage off a kill from Abigail Wilson.
A kill from Lassiter gave Webb City service, with Long ripping off seven straight points to rally the Cardinals all the way back to a 20-16 advantage. Lenker had three kills in the run, which also featured a pair of aces by Long.
Scott earned a kill to force a sideout and added a block and another kill during Howard's service run to tie things up at 20-all.
After the Cardinals went up two, Carl Junction scored six of the last eight points, including a kill from Fowler and an ace by Miya Carnes to clinch the 26-24 win.
"There was just a lot of grit," Sharples said of her team's play in the third set. "They refocused on the process of the game, the fundamentals, and how to get things done."
"I felt like we walked right back out there in the fourth set and had a lot of confidence like, 'we're going to win this.' I felt like that was our mentality throughout that entire fourth set. They believed they were going to win it, and they were ready to fight for it."
Carl Junction took advantage of a three-point service run from Scott to build an 11-5 lead in the fourth and final set. Scott, Fowler and Sara Buchele all had kills in the run.
A four-point run in service later in the set by Wilson that featured an ace put Carl Junction on top 17-9 before Webb City countered with a four-point service run from Jadyn Catterson to trim the deficit to 18-15.
After trading sideouts, Carl Junction took a 22-16 lead on Howard's serve, which saw a kill from Scott before a sideout kill from Lassiter and three service points from Savannah Crane cut the Cardinals' deficit to 22-20.
Both teams traded sideouts until Fowler's kill was followed by an attack error on Webb City to end the set and match.
STATS
Scott finished with 20 kills, 12 digs and three blocks, while Chase had 10 kills, four blocks and three digs. Miya Carnes finished with 41 assists and 13 digs, with Wilson leading the team with 21 digs.
Rutledge finished with 12 kills, three digs and two blocks, while Lassiter had 10 kills, 11 digs and three blocks. Sophia Crane led the team with 22 digs, while Savannah Crane led Webb City with 23 assists.
UP NEXT
Carl Junction (10-2, 2-0 COC) hosts Nixa on Thursday.
Webb City (9-2, 1-1 COC) hosts Willard on Thursday.