Scott City volleyball team sweeps Central

Scott City always seemed relaxed and focused against Central in Tuesday night's volleyball match.

So when the Rams blew a late six-point lead in Game 2 and the host Tigers tied it at 22-22, Scott City hardly seemed fazed.

The Rams earned three of the next four points to close out Central 25-22, 25-23.

"We're so much later in the year now," Rams coach Steven Hendricks said. "We're finally starting to figure out who we are and how to play a little bit in close games. We've been in a lot of close games, and we do alright in them, so we have fun when we're in tough situations now."

It wasn't all smiles for Scott City.

Central came out swinging in the first game.

The Tigers, led by seniors Katie Williams and Libby Hulcy, jumped out to a 13-7 lead with strong play at the net.

The six-point lead was erased quickly.

Scott City rattled off seven consecutive points to claim a 14-13 advantage.

The Rams turned the tide at the net when Hailey Clayton got rolling.

"She did a great job," Hendricks said. "I think she got blocked maybe her first one or two hits and then made a good adjustment from there to hit around the block and even hit through a couple of blocks. That's neat because if you look at Hailey, she's not real tall, so her athletic ability is pretty impressive."

Clayton spread the credit around.

"Heather [Keesee] is always good at setting," Clayton said. "Good passes in the back row equals up to good sets. I got blocked there that one time, and I was like, ‘We need to pick it up, and I need to get better,' and after that we did a lot better and got on a roll."

The teams traded points, with Central moving to within 23-22 on a kill by Hulcy, but the Rams closed out the game with two points at the net.

The Rams threatened to turn the second game into a rout.

Scott City took an 8-2 lead and appeared to be rolling.

Freshman Abbie McAlister sparked Scott City, the lanky hitter drilling two kills to get the Rams going.

"Any time that we get a good pass and we can go to the middle, we feel confident Abbie is going to finish it," Hendricks said.

Central (5-23-1) cut the lead to 12-10, but the Rams went on a 7-3 run to stretch the lead to 19-13.

The Tigers weren't finished.

Central, behind Williams and Hulcy, closed the gap to 22-20.

"We definitely got back in the game," Central coach Angela Broshuis said. "They're more resilient than I've seen them all season. That's good going into districts, that we've got a little fight left in us. Yes, I wouldn't have wanted to get down that early, but they did come back, and I really thought we could have won that game. Had we not given them four or five serves, [it's a] different ballgame. We make up for our unforced errors, and it's a totally different ballgame."

Williams was all over the court -- spiking, blocking and digging. She finished with eight kills, while Hulcy had seven.

"Katie really stepped up," Broshuis said. "Libby stepped up defensively. She's usually one of our two main hitters, Katie and Libby are. Libby really stepped up the defense, and Katie is kind of the glue that holds us together. They're definitely the captains for a reason. They're just really good and push our girls. They really stepped up on senior night."

Hendricks called a timeout when Central closed to within 22-20.

"I just told them to pull it together," Hendricks said. "To stay calm, and to remember to get back to what we were doing before. Just to remember who we were and keep playing our game, and we'd be fine if we do that."

The Tigers scored the first two points out of the timeout to pull even at 22-22. McAlister then took over.

She crushed a kill to make it 23-22 and closed out the game three points later on another kill.

"I just knew we had to win that game since districts is coming up," McAlister said. "I wanted to win because we lost the last one and I just wanted to win this one, and I thought to get the game over I needed to get that final kill."