Republic’s out-of-sync offense led to trouble against the big blocks thrown up by Columbia Rock Bridge, as the Lady Tigers lost their state sectional match at home Saturday 25-20 21-25 25-14.
Rock Bridge had its biggest success with an aggressive service game that left Republic’s offense off-balance. Coach Piper Wright says the Lady Tigers’ difficulty in their serve-receive game cascaded to cause other problems.
“We don’t have really heavy hitters. We don’t have a massive block. But we are quick and we’re athletic, and if we can have a good pass, we can run just about anything as quickly as possible against teams like this,” Wright says. “When we don’t have that pass, it’s hard to do that. You’ve got to push something out to the outside a lot, and when you’ve got a massive block on the other side, there’s not a lot you can do.”
After dropping the first set 25-20, Republic was on the ropes, trailing 17-12 in the second. But with Michayla Shanks serving, the Lady Tigers reeled off seven straight points to take the lead, and went on to even the match with a 21-25 win.
In the third set, Republic trailed 12-10 when Rock Bridge went on a seven-point streak of its own, taking a commanding 19-10 lead. From there, the Bruins cruised to victory.
“It’s been up and down and all around, but that’s what I love about volleyball, and sport in general,” Wright says of the 2013 season. “It teaches us a lot about life, because life is up and down and all around.
“When everybody’s on, we are a phenomenal team, and we just didn’t quite have everybody on today, and that’s okay. That’s going to happen sometimes.”
Republic ends its season at 23-11-1.
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Rock Bridge advanced to the quarterfinals, losing to Ozark, which earned its fifth straight trip to the state semifinals. Ozark won 25-17 23-25 25-23.