Two years in a row, Republic’s volleyball team left the door open for a Glendale comeback, and Glendale took advantage. This year, the Lady Tigers slammed the door shut with authority.
Having already won the first set 25-20, Republic found itself trailing 23-18, and in danger of repeating history. That’s when Rachael Allen’s service game took over. Allen kept Glendale on its heels as the Lady Tigers won seven straight points to storm from behind and clinch the match with a 25-23 second-set victory. (See video of the comeback and final points below.)
Republic Tiger Sports volleyball coverage is brought to you by Team Wear Solutions, now serving Republic for your uniform needs! Thank them for sponsoring Republic Tiger Sports.
“I knew we had a lot of ground to make up, but I felt confident in the team that we could do it,” says Allen. “I focused on serving between two girls, in the seam. I think it just happened once or twice and really got in their heads.”
The win was the first for coach Piper Wright over Glendale since coming to Republic. Glendale had handed Wright her first loss in each of her first two seasons.
“We’ve come out really strong against them the last two years, beaten them the first set, sometimes pretty bad,” says Wright. “We were just wanting so bad to finish in two this year, and we did it.”
Wright says the Lady Tigers never lost their confidence, even when they fell behind in the second set.
“We had a little pre-game talk about being confident at all times. If you’re not confident, act like you are,” Wright says. “I think they went out and did that.”
Lexi Birlew led the Lady Tigers with eight kills. Emily Preston had 19 assists. Maddy Sherman led the defense with 21 digs, and Micah Mansker had two service aces.
Republic improves to 1-1. The JV team won 25-16 25-23. The freshmen won 25-12 25-27 25-21.
Get every story delivered.
Tiger Wire — Republic sports news, free every morning.