One for the ages: Gideon outlasts Lady Hornets for district title

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Holcomb’s Jenna McKuin (19) tries to hit the ball over Gideon’s Lindsey Wilson during the first set of Tuesday’s Class 1, District 1 Volleyball Tournament championship game at Gideon. [Click to enlarge]

GIDEON, Mo. -- ESPN calls games like Tuesday’s Class 1, District 1 volleyball championship “Instant Classics.” In which case, cue up the highlight reel.

Meeting for the district title for the third straight year, the Holcomb Lady Hornets and the Gideon Lady Bulldogs battled back-and-forth all night before the Lady Bulldogs pulled out a 20-25, 25-12, 25-23 victory over Holcomb here Tuesday.

“It was a good game all the way around,” Holcomb coach Gentry Vancil said. “I’m not disappointed in the girls -- I think my girls gave it their heart, I really do. I think they came out here and they played with heart. They didn’t back down when the ball was getting crammed in their face and blocked and everything.”

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Holcomb’s Laura Watson (left) tries to block Gideon’s Cassy Woolverton during Tuesday’s game. [Click to enlarge]

There were several highlight-reel performances Tuesday:

^^ Gideon’s Cassy Woolverton dominated at the net, finishing the night with 14 kills and eight blocks, including a second-set performance that got the Lady ‘Dogs back in the game after dropping the first set.

“We kind of got a rough start in the first set, so we knew we had to just pick ourselves back up, just go from there and just really play the second set because we’ve had that struggle in the past playing the second set,” Woolverton said. “We knew we had to pick ourselves up and (take it) from there.”

^^ With the Lady Hornets on the brink of elimination, Laura Watson came alive in the third set, recording seven of her 13 kills and connecting on a pair of aces at the service line to keep her team alive.

“Laura had a really great game,” said Vancil. “She put the ball away when we needed her to put the ball away. Laura’s just an awesome athlete. She rose to the occasion. It doesn’t bother her too much when she was getting blocked and stuff. She goes back and she’s hitting again. She has that confidence.”

^^ Last but not least, Lindsey Wilson came through when Gideon (28-2-3) needed her most. Wilson came up with several kills at clutch moments down the stretch in the final set to help her team pull it out in the end.

“I couldn’t have done it without my team, but I told (setter) Erin (Richardson), ‘Feed me the ball, I want this,’” Wilson said. “We couldn’t have done it without the passing. Our passing struggled but we pulled through.”

Holcomb got out to an 11-7 lead in the opening set on the strength of back-to-back kills from Tiffany Weaver and held off several runs to take the first set, the first time all year the Lady Bulldogs has dropped the opener in any match.

“The first set, they hit the ball and we really didn’t,” Wilson said. “We knew if we were going to win, we had to play a hitting game. We just came out and we knew we had to do it. We took care of it.”

Said Woolverton: “We knew we had to start all over and pretend it was the first set in that second one and just really play our game, get back going and focus more on the game instead of all those crowds and everything.”

Gideon did just that, racing out to an 8-0 lead in the second set as Woolverton dominated the net and helped keep the Lady Hornets at bay the entire set.

“I was very concerned because we weren’t blocking the ball well and we weren’t hitting the ball well the first set,” Gideon coach Carol Woolverton said. “We came back the second set and played our game.”

The Lady Bulldogs led most of the third set until Watson’s ace tied the score at 16-all. But Wilson answered with a kill to put her team back ahead, then added a kill and a block to make it 19-17 after Holcomb tied the score again.

After the Lady Hornets tied the score at 19-19, Wilson added yet another kill to once again put her team back ahead.

“She’s an awesome, awesome player,” coach Woolverton said. “There’s just a lot of energy there. Lindsey’s just full of energy. She is just such a great ballplayer. She can come through when it really matters. Her vertical (jump) is outstanding and that really helps her on the block and on the hit. She’s a powerful ballplayer.”

It wasn’t over yet, however. Watson had back-to-back kills to give the Lady Hornets a 22-21 lead -- their first since 3-2 -- and Megan Crawford’s ace made it 23-21.

But Gideon answered the bell one more time, tying the score at 23-all on a Cassy Woolverton kill and a Megan Parker ace, and taking the title on Woolverton’s game-clinching kill.

“The third set it was back and forth,” said coach Woolverton. “I knew it was going to be that way. But it’s just a sweet victory. It’s just a sweet win for us.”

Wilson added 11 kills and a pair of blocks for the Lady ‘Dogs, while Richardson had 24 assists and a pair of aces. Weaver added seven kills for Holcomb while Crawford added three.

Gideon will take on Bismarck (26-5-1) in Saturday’s Class 1 sectional at Bell City, with the winner taking on either Leopold or Bell City later that day in quarterfinal action.