Earler in the evening, Republic had knocked off 25-8 Carthage in three sets, 25-11 23-25 25-17. The Lady Tigers stormed out of the gate with an aggressive service game and strong defense.
“Our defense was fantastic. It was the best I’ve seen it,” says coach Piper Wright. “We came out fired up, ready to go. The girls wanted it really bad.
“Our serving was aggressive and I thought our passing was really, really good in that first whole match, really.”
Michayla Shanks had 13 kills to lead Republic in the first match. Rowan Page-Brennan led the team with 17 digs, and Emily Preston racked up 36 assists to go along with three service aces.
In the championship game, though, Republic had a hard time getting its footing against state-ranked Carl Junction.
“They have a ton of options on the front row and they serve aggressively and they pass well,” says Wright.
Preston had 18 assists and two blocks, and Micah Mansker had six kills and two blocks in the championship match. Jera Pipkin led the team with 13 digs, and Brooke Stanfield added two blocks as well.
The Lady Tigers ended their season with a record of 13-14-4. After a rough start to the season, they finally reached the .500 mark with their win in the semifinal, before dropping one match below .500 with the final loss. Wright says she’s proud of how the team continued to fight.
“We faced a lot of adversity and saw a lot of really good teams,” she says. “Obviously this is the end of our season and we didn’t quite get the win, but it’s definitely something to be proud of.”