Update: Republic defeated Joplin 25-21 25-23 in the first semifinal match. The Lady Tigers will play for a district title against Nixa or Carthage later tonight, and I’ll have live updates here.
In the semifinal, Lexi Birlew had a big game on the outside, taking advantage of Joplin’s weakness defensively down the lines.
“Anytime we could set something up, it was good,” says coach Piper Wright. “We struggled a little bit with the serve-receive today, so we didn’t always get a good set to get an attacker, but we’ll take the win.”
Remember, I’ll have live updates from Carthage later tonight, via Twitter (@Republic_Tigers). You can follow the updates there, or in the box below.
Get every story delivered.
Tiger Wire — Republic sports news, free every morning.