The undefeated defending state champion Lafayette was far and away the best volleyball team in the Springfield Classic. Turns out the Republic Lady Tigers were the second-best.
Republic lost twice in the tournament — both times to Lafayette — and took second place in one of the premiere tournaments of the season.
“They (Lafayette) are absolutely one of the best high school teams I’ve ever seen,” says Republic coach Piper Wright. “I feel that we responded pretty well for how big they are, and how good they are.”
After losing badly in to Lafayette in their first match of the day, Republic responded with wins over Forth Smith Northside, Nixa, and Westminster Christian Academy.
That set up a rematch with Lafayette. The match started with a point that lasted over a minute (see video) and stayed close over the first 15 points, but Lafayette pulled away for a 25-10 win.
Wright says she’s happy with how her team responded.
“We don’t like to be embarrassed. We know that they’re a good team, but we just didn’t feel like we had played our best,” she says. “What we were trying to achieve was just to go out there and stick pass and put a block up and do anything we could to get the point.”
Lafayette came out strong in game two, and looked like they might blow out the Lady Tigers, but Republic responded. They tied the game at 17-17 before eventually falling 25-18.
“That’s something I love about this team. They fight back. You can get them down but they’ll fight back,” says Wright. “They don’t like to lose. I love that about them. They really don’t ever give up.
Setter Sarah Kreul says Republic learned a lot about itself today with its strong finish in a very strong field that included teams like Kickapoo, St. Francis Borgia and Nixa.
“We learned that we can compete with the best of the best. Lafayette — they’re the returning state champs and they’re probably going to repeat this year, and we kept up with them,” says Kreul. “We beat teams like Westminster, and we placed higher than Kickapoo and Borgia.
“That just means that now is the time in our season when we just take off.”