Branson and Republic were about as evenly matched as two teams can be Thursday night. Two of the three sets required extra points to be decided, but it was Branson who came out on top, 25-21 25-27 26-24.
Lauren O’Hara led the Lady Tigers with 12 kills. Mikayla Botkin had 18 assists from the setter position. Eryn Russell had 25 digs and Lexi Long contributed six blocks to the defensive effort.
It was the second close loss of the week for Republic, who fell to a very good Carthage team on Tuesday at home. The Lady Tigers fall to 5-8-1 overall, 0-2 in the COC.
The Republic JV won its match, 25-19 25-21. The freshmen lost 26-28 25-19 29-27.