VOLLEYBALL: No. 1 Verdigris survives upset bid from unranked Skiatook
Oct. 5—SKIATOOK — Regardless of whether Verdigris lacked effort or simply got caught overlooking an inferior opponent, it was up to Sicilei Redd to silence the upset-alert sirens.
The Class 4A No. 1 Lady Cardinals faced a 24-22 deficit and were in danger of falling behind two sets to none against unranked Skiatook, but the junior setter delivered two aces during a 5-0 run — including the game-winner — to help them escape the frame.
That proved to be enough of a spark to turn things around as Verdigris capped its 40-win regular season with a 3-1 victory — 16-25, 26-24, 25-18, 26-24 — over the Lady Bulldogs on Monday night at the Brooks Walton Activity Center.
"I was just really focused, and I did not want to go (more than four sets)," said Redd, who tallied three of her six aces and a block during that pivotal second set. "I was just up there really focusing on just getting it over and getting it in. I think we just didn't come out focused. Our warmup wasn't very good, and we just weren't mentally there, in a way. We were physically ready, but just not mentally."
Morgan Keeler ignited the closing spurt with a kill after Skiatook took a 24-21 lead, and her fourth kill of the set put the Lady Cardinals ahead 25-24 before Redd's ace.
The sophomore finished with five kills in all, serving as the team's fourth-highest scorer of the match.
"I knew that we just had to fight," Keeler said. "We've gone back from this many times, and we fought through, and in the end, it's all good. I just knew that if I just kept my mind in it, then I could pull us through."
Although Verdigris (40-6) swept the final three sets, the Lady Bulldogs didn't lie down without a fight.
Skiatook (16-19) never led in the third but managed to force four ties before conceding defeat. It trimmed a six-point deficit to one at 17-16 following a 7-2 run, but the Lady Cardinals scored eight of the last 10 points to close the set and take a 2-1 lead.
The fourth set was much more stressful for Verdigris, though.
Despite holding late leads of 18-14 and 22-20, the Lady Cardinals found themselves trailing 24-23 following a LeAnna Dunagan kill.
They needed a heroic effort similar to what Redd and Keeler accomplished in the second, and that is exactly what they received from Morgan Borgstadt.
The senior middle blocker ended the match with three-consecutive kills, raising her total to 12 alongside her three blocks and one ace. Borgstadt scored seven of her 16 points in the final set — five kills, one block and one ace — after being held to two kills and two blocks through the first two.
She had five kills in the third as well.
Before Borgstadt's flurry of spikes, Verdigris coach Caleb Horton said he was worried they'd have to go to a fifth set.
"I'm happy about the runs we made to get out of it," said Horton, whose team defeated Skiatook 25-23, 25-17 at the Jiffy Trip Red Carpet Rendezvous on Sept. 23 in Enid. "I was like, if we go five, the momentum is gonna be with them. We haven't done a fifth set all year; I'm not sure we would've been able to handle it. I told them, 'We have one more set of rankings if we make it (to the state tournament), and you guys can't have this on your record.' It's nice to be done with that one.
"They look a lot better than the last time we saw them, so hats off to (coach Jamie Long) for getting her group ready. They looked pretty good, and we did not look good at all."
Borgstadt and fellow senior Logan Hamilton were dominant through the third and fourth, combining for 24 of the Lady Cardinals' 28 non-error points during that span. Redd, Keeler and Amelia Fernau accounted for the other four.
In fact, if not for Redd opening the fourth with an ace, they would've recorded the last 16 non-error points for Verdigris.
Hamilton, an outside hitter, notched 19 points in all with 15 kills, three aces and one block. Seven of those kills came in the fourth set.
Despite that, Horton was understandably not content with his team's overall performance.
"They played great defense tonight, and we played like trash," Horton said. "What a night. At one point I was like, 'We just need to get out of here. We need to do whatever it takes to get a win in Skiatook and go.' Because Skiatook, they wanted to win more than we did, to be honest. I don't know if we looked past them or it's Skiatook and we always beat the crap out of them or what, but they deserved to win. Not us, they did."
The first set was the most shocking of all.
The Lady Bulldogs scored the first 11 points of the frame, and Verdigris couldn't recover enough to make a true rally. They even ballooned the lead to 12 at 23-11 before a mini 5-1 run that consisted of three Hamilton kills made the tally more respectable.
Skiatook registered two double-digit scorers in Emily Avery — nine kills, six aces and a block — and Tatum Daughtry — eight kills, two aces and a block. Dunagan had a notable performance as well with seven kills.
Avery was especially impactful in the early going, recording eight kills, four aces and a block through the first two sets. However, she managed only three kills and two aces through the third and fourth.
After surviving the upset bid, Verdigris turns its attention to the regional tournament where it will host Wagoner, Classen SAS and Oologah. It plays Wagoner at 11 a.m. Wednesday, and the winner of that match takes on the Classen SAS-Oologah winner at 2 p.m. with a spot in the Class 4A state tournament on the line.
"I thought we had a wake-up call at the Regent game a week ago, but evidently not," Horton said. "It was a long night for all of us, so it's nice to be done with the regular season so we could focus on Wednesday."
