Republic volleyball notched another milestone win to close out the regular season, beating Ozark in five sets, inserts score here. The win snaps an 11-year drought against Ozark. The last time Republic came out on top in the matchup was 2011. Republic hadn’t won a set against Ozark since 2012. Tuesday’s score was 25-23, 11-25, 25-13, 18-25, 15-9.
It’s the second time this year, Republic has ended a long losing streak against a COC opponent. Earlier this season, the Lady Tigers beat Willard for the first time since 2013. But Willard has won only five matches this season, and Ozark entered Tuesday’s showdown with 22 wins.
“I’ve said this from when we talked this summer — this is a totally different group of girls. They’re so competitive, and the amount of talent we have on our team is undeniable,” said coach Allison Davis. “The girls wanted more respect in our conference and in our district, and I said this was the team that I believed was going to do it, and I think we’re showing that we’re here to compete.”
Republic edged Ozark in the first set, but lost the second by a wide margin and fell behind in the third. But trailing 7-3, Republic earned a side-out and Kaemyn Bekemeier reeled off nine consecutive service points to help Republic take command. From there, Republic cruised to a two-sets-to-one advantage.
Republic committed 22 errors in the second set and didn’t have a single block, but Davis said her team re-focused on its defense and that’s what made the difference.
“Ozark has a good offensive team. We have a good offensive team,” she said. “But we concentrated on cleaning up our defense and that’s what won us the game.”
Brooklyn Claxton led the defense with 15 digs, and she also led the team with 28 assists. Kailey Manes had six blocks. Rilynn Finley led Republic with 18 kills, and Kaemyn Bekemeier turned in three service aces.
Ozark is 22-11-2, seeded third in the upcoming district tournament to be played in Republic starting Saturday. Republic is 25-9 as the regular season closes, and enters the district tournament with the #4 seed. Republic will play Lebanon at 4:30 pm.