Cardinals top Bulldogs for CJ Classic title

Sep. 25—CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — It was a long, successful day at the office for Webb City's volleyball team.

The Cardinals capped Saturday's performance at the Dr. Jeffrey Knutzen CJ Classic with a 2-0 win in the championship match against Carl Junction.

Webb City won by set scores of 25-19 and 25-17 over the Bulldogs.

"We played with some good momentum, good mental outlook for each game," Webb City head coach Rhonda Lawrence said.

The Cardinals led from start to finish in the first set and led by as many as seven points on multiple occasions.

In the second set, Carl Junction jumped out to a 4-0 lead. It wasn't very far into the set before Webb City brought it even. With an 8-7 Bulldogs lead, Destiny Buerge's attack hit the net to tie the set at 8-8.

The Cardinals would take their first lead of set two at 10-9 and didn't look back. In fact, the lead stretched to as many as eight when they led 24-16 and then closed the match two points later.

"It's awesome," Lawrence said. "For 13 hours of volleyball, and you get to take the trophy home, it's like, 'Hey, that's why we came.' ... I'm happy for them. They did a good job."

Webb City and Carl Junction began their first game of the day around 8:30 in the morning and didn't see the championship match end until around 9:30 that night.

"We had a lot of breaks inbetween, so we were kind of able to pull it together and have a little fun together," Lawrence said. "And then when it's time to play, it's like, 'Alright let's go. Let's do what we love.'"

In pool play, Webb City went a perfect 8-0 in sets with sweeps over McDonald County, Siloam Springs, Central (Springfield), and Heritage (Rogers, Ark.) to take first in the red pool.

The Cardinals remained perfect in bracket play as they took down both Nevada and Harrisonville 2-0 as well before meeting CJ in the finals. Lawrence credited that perfect streak to her team's toughness.

"I think it's the mental toughness along with the physical toughness," Lawrence said. "They (the players) knew that we were going to be tested."

Carl Junction also had a perfect run in pool play, sweeping Neosho, Heritage (Rogers, Ark.), Pittsburg, and Siloam Springs.

The Bulldogs took down Siloam Springs again to open bracket play and beat Rogers in the semis. CJ remained perfect on the day before losing two sets to the Cardinals.

"We're just getting Logan (Jones) back," Carl Junction head coach Cheryl Sharples said. "This is the first time she's played with us in about a week and a half. We're just trying to redevelop that connection and make some things happen. Overall, I was pretty happy with us today. We battled and played well."

The CJ Classic — occurring in the middle of the volleyball season — can act as a tuneup for area teams as they head into the final stretch of their regular season.

"I have to finish the rest of my conference play. and the COC (Central Ozark Conference) is the toughest one in the state," Lawrence said. "So I need some good competition. We have to play with that same mentality of playing hard and playing smart against everyone in the conference or you're going to lose one."

"We got to play a lot of matches today, and that's what we wanted to do," Sharples said. "This gives us a lot of playing experience, and that's what we need going forward."

Lawrence mentioned seeing a big improvement in her team's blocking and noted that would be something they would need throughout the season. She wants to see her team continue their toughness and get better overall on defense.

Brenda Lawrence led Webb City with 43 kills on the day. Aubree Lassiter and Kate Brownfield added 39 more a piece. Lassiter finished the day with a .367 attack percentage and added 11 service aces. Kyah Sanborn tallied 132 assists across the entire tournament for the Cardinals. Sophia Crane added 72 digs while Jaeli Rutledge finished with 13 blocks to lead the team for the day.

OTHER AREA TEAMS

Neosho, took second in the black pool after going 5-3 in pool play. The Wildcats were beaten in the opening round by Harrisonville in bracket play.

Joplin won the white pool and Nevada took second. Both teams were defeated in the opening round of bracket play. The Eagles fell to Rogers while the Tigers dropped their opening match to Webb City.

Bailey Owens tallied 45 kills for Joplin to lead the team. Jayla Hunter's 51 kills were enough for a team-high, as well as Abby Hembree's 86 assists.