The Clarksville Lady Wildcats and Rossview Lady Hawks each punched their tickets to the District 13-AAA volleyball championship on Tuesday, defeating West Creek and Springfield, respectively.
As the top seed in the tournament, Clarksville hosted both games. They started the day against the Lady Coyotes, whom they defeated in straight sets both times they met during the regular season. That didn’t change on Tuesday, with CHS taking the game 3-0 by scores of 25-15, 25-14 and 25-15.
The win propels the Lady Wildcats into their seventh consecutive regional tournament appearance, and they believe they might be peaking at the right time.
“We’ve been working on having a better attitude, about being positive in the game,” said CHS head coach Glen Fox. “I think we went through a two week span here where we weren’t playing too well. We just got back from a tournament where we played some good teams and didn’t play too well.
“We’ve been concentrating more on a positive attitude and just letting those games go. To play point-by-point, and I think we did that today. We had our moments a few times there, but I feel like we’re starting to come together at the right time.”
As for West Creek, their season ends with a 12-12 overall mark. Though head coach Joshua Stoeckl appreciates the team he had for who they were, he can’t help but feel they might have been better than their final record indicates.
“Good kids,” he said. “Really, truly good kids. We had some talent. For whatever reason, we just couldn’t get it to click on the court when we needed it to. But good kids. Good girls. At the end of the day, they’re good people. That’ll be the thing I remember most: they’re good kids and good people.”
They were immediately followed by the Rossview vs. Springfield contest. The two teams split the regular season series, with each squad taking 3-1 victories.
That was the final score again as the Lady Hawks advanced to their second consecutive district title game, though several of the sets were airtight: 25-16, 26-28, 25-23 and 25-19.
“(We had) more communication and wanting to be aggressive on the court,” said RHS head coach Tishara Hicks. “When it mattered, we made those plays. Just being more aggressive and making plays when plays needed to be made.”
The third and fourth sets were as close as the scores suggest. Neither team mustered a lead of more than four points at any time, and the lead changed as late as the final few points in both sets.
In the end, it was the Lady Jackets whose season ended, giving them a final mark of 7-20.
Springfield head coach Ann Marie Cobb will remember the team fondly for the effort they displayed nightly.
“The fight that they had, there would be so many points where you thought the ball was going to hit the ground, so many times it never did,” she said. “They didn’t have as much fight tonight as they did in prior games, but they had a fight that a lot of teams I have coached haven’t had.”
Clarksville and Rossview are set to meet in the district championship game for the second consecutive year. CHS leads the season series 2-0 with a pair of 3-1 wins over their rivals. The title game will be on Thursday, Oct. 7 at 6 p.m.
In between games, the all-district honorees were named along with superlatives:
Krista Haake, Clarksville — District MVP
Myrtle Yates, Clarksville
Caroline Griffin, Clarksville
Rainee Pike, Clarksville
Emersen Head, Clarksville
Alexis Swearigen, Rossview
Lauren Snyder, Rossview
Taniya Nicholes, Rossview
Josie Buck, Springfield
Maci Banks, Springfield
Chloe Kegler, Northeast
Madison Douglass, Northeast
Mona Meredith, West Creek
Coach of the Year: Glen Fox, Clarksville
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