CARTHAGE, Mo. — Carthage broke away midway through the third set to earn a 2-1 victory (21-25, 25-19, 25-18) Tuesday night in a Central Ozark Conference volleyball opener in the Tigers' gymnasium.
Junior outside hitter Alexa Boyle ignited the Tigers in the second set and finished with 17 kills and two aces to lead the Tigers (17-2). A.C. Crockfort made 10 blocks, JIllian Brunnert had 10 digs, and Gracie Fagg handed out 31 assists.
Senior outside hitter Grace Southern collected 11 kills and 6 digs for the Bulldogs (8-4). Setter Bre Maxwell dished out 21 assists, and Kayleigh Sewell had 10 digs.
A seesaw first set saw Southern slam four spikes to spark Carl Junction to a 5-1 lead, only to see the Tigers rallied to take two 4-point leads, the last at 14-10.
Consecutive kills by Salma Lewis and Southern capped a spurt that put the Bulldogs ahead to stay 20-17, and kills by Courtney Schmidt and Jessa Hylton provided the final 2 points.
Carl Junction tallied the first 3 points of the second set before Boyle had five kills and a block with Crockford during a 9-3 spree for a 9-6 lead. Boyle had three more kills plus two aces as the lead stretched to 22-15, and Ava Petticrew had kills on 2 of the last 3 points in the set.
The third set had three early ties and a lead change before Carthage went on a 10-1 burst for a 20-10 lead. Boyle had three kills and Crockford a kill and block during the spurt, and the Bulldogs had four ballhandling errors.
"Alexa came to life (in the second set)," Carthage coach Tony Allmoslecher said. "In the third set, she twisted her ankle, so we had to back off a bit."
"Last year, A.C. didn't play because she was recovering from an injury," Allmoslecher said. "This year, she is slowly coming (along). She controlled parts of the game at the net with her blocking. She's a big block, so that's awesome."
"I thought we came out on fire and really got after things," Bulldogs coach Cheryl Sharples said. "Then I thought in (sets) two and three we started playing a little tentative. I felt like in doing that we started creating some of our own errors, which put them in the game a little more.
"And of course, they played better in two and three, and we didn't make adjustments to that. We weren't seeing the blocks very well in two and three. Some of that was we weren't as crisp passing, so our offense wasn't as efficient. We weren't able to run our offense as well as we did in one."
This was the third time the Bulldogs and Tigers have met in the past four days. They split two matches last Saturday in the Pittsburg Tournament.
"I love playing Carl Junction because they bring out the best in us, and I think we bring out the best in them," Allmoslecher said. "They are just a great volleyball club, and I love playing against them. They work hard; they've been coached well. It's always a great game."
-Joplin Globe, Jim Henry