By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
The East Buchanan volleyball team fell in heartbreaking fashion to the Hermann Bearcats in the Class 2 Semifinals of the MSHSAA Girls Volleyball Championships at Civic Arena.
The Bulldogs competed hard, taking a lead on Hermann after coming back in the first set after trailing 21-20 at one point, going on to win the opening set 27-25. In the second set, it was all East Buchanan as they never trailed, and never let the Bearcats within more than three points after pulling away, eventually winning that set 25-17.
Leading two sets to none, it seemed like it was East Buchanan’s match. But at this level, you can never count anyone out, especially a team like Hermann whose made it to the Final Four 10 years in a row, bringing home three championships and three second place finishes in that span.
The momentum stayed with East Buchanan to start set three, the Bulldogs pulling ahead to a 12-6 lead before Hermann called a timeout. After the timeout, the Bearcats scored three straight points to get within three, before an East Buchanan timeout, then stayed within two points until the Bulldogs pulled ahead 17-11, forcing another Hermann timeout.
That timeout is where the momentum changed hands. The Bearcats scored four of the next five points to get within three, and then East Buchanan got to within four points of match point, and Hermann took over again scoring seven of the next eight, to pull ahead 22-21. The Bulldogs tied things up, and then took a lead to get to within two points of a trip to the championship, the Bearcats didn’t go away, both teams going back and forth until Hermann won set three 29-27.
Set four mirrored the second set of the match, but this time in Hermann’s favor. The Bulldogs did battle with the Bearcats through the first half of the set, but eventually Hermann pulled away, never letting East Buchanan within more than three points, winning 25-17 and forcing the decisive set five.
In that final set, the Bearcats took an early lead, but the Bulldogs battled back to tie it up, and after both teams went back and forth for awhile, including a brief lead by East Buchanan, Hermann eventually pulled away for a 15-9 victory.
Head Coach Ryan Horn says his biggest message to the girls was that they belong there, and he says they showed that
“We did that through the first two and a half sets and I just felt like we lit up a little bit, I don’t know if that’s true that’s just the way I felt, and it’s just like we couldn’t ever get it back,” Horn tells reporters after the match.
Horn says Hermann made adjusments to things they were doing defensively and admits he didn’t make the right adjustments to put his girls in a great position
“Volleyball is a weird game and if you lose that momentum it’s hard to get it back and we just couldn’t ever get it back,” Horn says.
Horn says he’s always been told only two people in the state can say they ended the season with a win, so the message in the locker room following the loss, was just how proud he was of the girls
“They fought hard, they had a goal of getting out of here with at least one win and they still have a chance to do that,” Horn explains. “So I told them I said it hurts, but at some point we’ve got to get refocused and motivation is the hardest part of a third place game and so we’ve got to find that.”
While a championship isn’t on the table anymore, East Buchanan still has a shot to do one step better than the last time they made it to state.
Horn says for those seniors that had hoped to do one step better than their freshman year he hopes that can provide some motivation
“I hope that we can, you know right now everybody is upset and everything but I’m hoping that if anything it did show that we can play down here and that we’ll work hard for a chance to do that hopefully,” Horn says.
Johnson led the way with 19 kills for East Buchanan. Kamryn Werle had 13 and Layla Watkins had 11. Kendyl Edwards had 48 assists while Kalynn Engnes led the way with 22 digs.
East Buchanan will play in the Class two third place game tomorrow at 2pm at Civic Arena against New Covenant Academy.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
