Republic volleyball established its dominance early against Glendale, then let its big lead slip away before coming through down the stretch in a five-set win at home, 25-13 16-25 25-22 21-25 15-7.
After routing Glendale in the opening minutes, Republic let the momentum slip away in a 16-25 loss in the second.
“I’m not going to take anything away from Glendale. They’ve got some big blockers and we’ve got to be able to adjust to something like that,” said coach Allison Davis. “I think that just kind of got in our heads that they started blocking us, and it shut down down.
The Lady Tigers never re-established that early momentum in the third, but still played well enough to win — only to let Glendale even the score again in the fourth. Still, despite the up-and-down nature of the contest, Davis said she was proud of how her players responded to adversity.
“We talk about overcoming mental obstacles, and we definitely did that tonight. We probably saw the most errors we’ve ever made, but then in the same game, seeing them overcome those obstacles, that’s powerful,” Davis said. “After the Kickapoo game, I said we’ve got to be a different team than the teams in the past. The teams in the past would just kind of fold and give up. This team did not — this is the new Republic team. It might not have been pretty the entire game, but the way they fought through proves we are a different team.”
Rilynn Finley continued her strong play at the net. She had 21 kills to lead the team. Kailey Manes led Republic with six blocks. Alaina Norman had 19 digs. Finley and Claire Esther each had four service aces, and Brooklyn Claxton led Republic with 23 assists.
Republic improves to 9-1 this season.
The JV team won 25-15 25-20. The freshmen won 25-17 25-20.
