BY JIM HENRY
Top-seeded Carl Junction rode the 1-2 offensive punch of Salma Lewis and Jessa Hylton to a 3-0 victory (25-19, 25-19, 25-23) over second-seeded Webb City on Wednesday night in the championship game of the Class 4 District 11 volleyball tournament at the Cardinal Dome.
With the title, the Bulldogs (24-6) will be the host for Saturday's four-team sectional event and play Willard (27-3-1). The other half of the bracket has Branson (19-11-1), which beat McDonald County 3-0 in its district final, against the winner of tonight's match between top-seeded Harrisonville (12-10) and No. 2 Belton (14-14-1). Match times will be announced today.
The Bulldogs' stronger play at the net earned them their third victory of the season in as many matches over the Cardinals (25-8-1).
"We worked (Tuesday) on being really aggressive at the net blocking and also taking good swings and outworking them at the net," Sharples said.
"It was a great match, hard fought," Cardinals coach Rhonda Lawrence said. "Any time you have Webb City and CJ volleyball together, it's going to be a long, hard night, and it was. I'm very proud of our girls. We did a lot of good things. We did some things better than we did playing them earlier in the year. Unfortunately somebody has to lose on these nights, and it sucks."
Lewis, senior outside hitter, notched a double-double with 23 kills and 10 digs. Several times when it appeared Webb City was starting to gain momentum, the Bulldogs set the ball for Lewis, and she delivered. She had four of the Bulldogs'final five points in the third set.
"Salma gets us out of a lot of situations for sure, front row and back row," Sharples said.
Hylton, junior middle hitter, contributed 16 kills. She had kills on five of the Cardinals' final eight points of the second set, and she had three kills and a block in a five-point stretch for a 15-7 lead in the third set.
"Jessa, when she is on, she's hard to stop," Sharples said. "She's a real pivotal player for us. When she's doing what she does for us well, we're hard to beat."
"My coaches told me to go line," Hylton said. "So I just starting swinging outside the blocker's hands."
"She went off in the second set," Lewis said. "She did really good."
"We work together really well, and our setter Logan (Jones) helps us a lot, too," Hylton said.
Jones, a sophomore, finished with 38 assists and broke the Bulldogs' single- season record with 859 assists in 87 sets. The old record was 851 assists in 91 sets by Bradyn Wall in 2013.
Other leaders for the Bulldogs included junior libero Olivia Vediz with 23 digs and three aces and senior middle hitter Jillian Kennedy with four blocks.
"We all had to come together and fight as a team," Lewis said. "We all wanted it so bad, and it felt so good."
"I'm really proud of this team," Sharples said. "It's been a great year, and they are a fun team to coach. They just love each other so much. It's so much fun to watch them celebrate and get excited for each other."
Senior middle hitter Maddy Peeples paced Webb City with 10 kills, and senior setter Anna Hettinger had 18 assists and three aces. Kenzie Storm, junior middle hitter, made six blocks, and senior libero Sage Crane had 19 digs.
The three sets followed a similar script as the Bulldogs would hold a close lead and make the plays down the stretch.
"I've always said volleyball is a game of spurts, and whoever has the last spurt wins," Lawrence said. "We fought back and got it tied up. But it didn't go our way this time. They had a couple of really good plays right at the end. Props to them. It's a good team. They run a very nice offense, and they did a lot of good things. I told our girls we can't hang our heads. We gave them as good of a run for their money as anyone else is going to give them.
It was the last match for five Webb City seniors — defensive specialist Abbly Stork, libero Crane, setter Hettinger, and outside hitters Peeples and Ella Cates.
"I can't say enough about this senior class carrying us all year long," Lawrence said. "A lot of people discredited us after last year ... they're not going to be that great this year. Maddy carried the torch, and the two back rows, and my setter, Anna Hettinger, stepped up and looked great tonight. We've dealt with a lot of adversity. The resilience of these kids all year long, to be able to keep coming back and keep making things happen on the court, I can't be more proud of them. The seniors showed great leadership."
Joplin Globe 10/29/2020 (Used by permission)