By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The East Buchanan volleyball team is back in the final four for the first time in three years after beating Lafayette County in the Class 2 Quarterfinals in three straight sets.
The first set of the match started out similar to East Buchanan’s sectional matchup with Lawson, as the Huskers started out with an early lead, pulling ahead 9-5 before Bulldogs head coach Ryan Horn called a timeout. After the timeout, there was a momentum swing and East Buchanan pulled ahead 12-11, forcing a Lafayette County timeout. The Bulldog eventually won the first set 25-22, after the Huskers chipped their way back on set point.
The second set again was all Lafayette County early, pulling out to a 10-3 lead, forcing East Buchanan to call both timeouts in the set. The Bulldogs fought back, trailing 15-11 at a Huskers timeout, and then tying it up 19-19 to force the second Huskers timeout. The set went back and forth the rest of the way, and the Bulldogs won the set 27-25.
East Buchanan pulled out to a lead in set three, but fell behind before rallying to again take the lead 8-6 at a Lafayette County timeout. The Huskers called their second timeout with East Buchanan leading 11-8, even after that though the Bulldogs continued pulling away until getting near set point. The Huskers weren’t done, and rallied back, Horn calling a timeout to focus his team leading 23-21, and the Bulldogs scored the last two points to win 25-21 sweeping Lafayette County.
Three seniors on the team will bookend their career with another appearance at state, after appearing in the Final Four in Cape Girardeau and finishing in fourth place.
Horn says back in the spring, he had the team write down goals, and it was those three seniors that had a very big goal.
“We want to make it to the Final Four and we want to do one step better,” Horn tells reporters after the match. “And, it’s a tough goal and they’re close, they’re close, and they’ve made one of these goals and I would say they want to prove something for sure, and if they do, they do, and if they don’t we’re still going to be proud of what we’ve accomplished and we’ll just see how it goes.”
Senior Brooklyn Johnson says it feels good to make it back to the Final Four, since the last time East Buchanan made it, she was just a freshman on the bench
“So it was really fun to be a leader in this season and go to the Final Four as a group now and actually earning it,” Johnson says. “Because just us the freshman sitting on the bench, but it feels good to have a part in the win.”
Senior Layla Watkins says it means a lot to be able to get back to this piont, and it’s also special for the school
“And this is the second time in school history, so that’s pretty cool, hopefully we can do a little better at state this year than we did that first year, but it feels amazing,” Watkins says.
Watkins also has the opportunity to do something her older sister wasn’t able to, win a championship. Maya Watkins was on the last East Buchanan team to make it to the Final Four.
Unlike last time though, the Bulldogs won’t have to travel to Cape Girardeau to play, and neither will their fans to support, just having to travel 20 miles down the road to St. Joseph.
Head Coach Ryan Horn says the community in Gower always shows up to support the team in these moments
“I’m actually really thankful for how good, even when we’re not doing a state playoff game, how good our community shows up and supports volleyball, because not every community gets that,” Horn explains. “And then for them to be able to get to a 15 minute drive or a 20 minute drive for state is just phenomenal for us, I mean I don’t know how it’s going to work out, but you have to think it’s an advantage for us for sure, so we’ll take it.”
The Bulldogs will play on Wednesday at Civic Arena taking on Hermann in semifinals.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
