Republic volleyball coach Piper Wright knows her smaller lineup won’t be able to overpower a big front row like the one Kickapoo puts on the floor, but there are things her team can do to overcome that size disadvantage. Tuesday night, the Lady Tigers didn’t do those things, losing in straight sets, 25-19 25-23.
Republic got in a hole early against the Lady Chiefs, falling behind by nine points early. They never got closer than five points the rest of the way.
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“That first game, we had such a terribly slow start. Just couldn’t quite get more than one or two points in a row, and I felt like we were moving slow,” Wright says. “We had a game last night, and don’t think we were mentally ready.”
The teams were tied 13 times in the second set, until Kickapoo won two points at 23-23 to clinch the victory.
“I felt like our block was fairly strong, but I don’t feel like we utilized our strengths on the front row,” Wright said of her team’s second-set performance. “They served very aggressively at us. Either our pass was off and we couldn’t get anything done, or our pass was really on and our hitters didn’t utilize that. When you’re going up against that big a block, and those powerful hitters, you’ve got to have everything on.”
Rachell Rippee led Kickapoo with 9 kills, 11 assists, and 11 digs. For Republic, Lexi Birlew and Micah Mansker had four kills apiece. Maddy Sherman had 13 digs and Emily Preston added 14 assists.
The JV team lost and the freshmen team won. Republic’s varsity squad falls to 3-2 this season.
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