For three straight seasons Carthage and Carl Junction have met in the district volleyball championship.
Two years ago it was Carthage who pulled off the upset over the top-seeded Bulldogs. Last year Carl Junction returned the favor and defeated the top-seeded Tigers.
On Thursday night at Joplin High School, the teams met again to decide the Class 4 District 11 championship. After winning the first set and taking a 17-9 lead in the second, it appeared as if 2018 would again be top-seeded Carthage’s year.
But the Bulldogs came back to shock the Tigers, winning 25-23 in the second set and 27-25 in the third.
“When it was 17-9 we thought we did probably have them,” Carthage coach Tony Allmoslecher said. “I think we thought they were just going to roll over and die and they didn’t. They just put a run together and I think we started not playing disciplined volleyball. We were making choices that weren’t disciplined ones.”
Carthage advanced to the finals with a 25-11, 25-14 win against fourth-seeded Joplin earlier Thursday. Carl Junction, seeded third, upset second-seeded Webb City in straight sets in the other semifinal.
With a heavy dose of junior Alexa Boyle early, Carthage jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the first set against Carl Junction. The lead grew to 10 at 17-7, and later 21-11, and senior Adriana Crockford helped finish off the Bulldogs late.
The second set was a closer affair. Boyle, Rockford and senior Ava Petticrew helped the Tigers build an early lead, and a 6-0 run capped by a kill from senior Alexis Black made it 17-9.
Carl Junction answered with an 8-1 run, though, and finally tied things up at 19. The Bulldogs pulled ahead 22-20 and Carthage battled back to force a tie at 22. At 24-22, a Petticrew kill kept the Tigers alive but not for long.
The third set was tied 14 different times, and neither team led by more than two until a kill by Carl Junction’s Jessa Hylton put the Bulldogs up 22-19. Some big swings by Boyle helped the Tigers tie things up at 23, and Boyle kills tied the set at 24 and 25.
Carl Junction senior Grace Southern scored on a kill off a block and then finished the contest with a tip.
Ava Petticrew records a kill during the match against Carl Junction.
“We played hard,” Allmoslecher said. “We just could not put them away, and Carl Junction played hard. They would not give up. I was impressed by that. In that third game, same thing. It was back and forth. I think it was just going to boil down to who got the break. I think both teams showed great effort. In the end, CJ made the big plays.”
Boyle finished with 21 kills against the Bulldogs. Crockford and Boyle each had two blocks. Senior Jillian Brunnert had 28 digs and senior Gracie Fagg finished with 40 assists.
Carl Junction, 17-12-2, went on to lose in straight sets to Blue Springs in the sectional round on Saturday. Carthage finishes the year with a 28-6 record.
