Leopold volleyball team defeats Advance

ADVANCE, MO. -- After surviving a scare against Advance in the Woodland Invitational championship game, the Leopold volleyball team knew it had to make adjustments both offensively and defensively heading into its third meeting of the season with the Hornets.

"We knew we had to pick it up, because Advance is a good club that has almost had our number on a couple different occasions," Leopold coach Sandy Davis said. "We had been working on some different things in practice this week, putting some plays into our offense, running some different hits and they were really excited about playing with it tonight."

The new plays were effective as the Wildcats went on to defeat the Hornets in straight sets 25-18, 25-12 on Thursday at Advance High School.

"We really wanted to set up a strong offense against them and we didn't want them to take us to three again," Leopold senior Ashlyn Bucher said. "We knew we had some holes on offense and defense so we wanted to tighten those up. We hadn't really practiced them until now, but the plays that we used worked and everything clicked."

Leopold (8-0-2) trailed Advance (6-4-1) 3-0 early in the first set until Bucher and Caitlin Petty combined for four straight kills to give the Wildcats a 4-3 lead.

Both teams battled back and forth through the first half of the set, tieing at 4-4 and 7-7 until Leopold went on a 12-5 run to take its largest lead of the set at 19-12.

The Leopold Wildcats break during a timeout in the first set of Thursday's volleyball match against Advance at Advance High School. (Trent Singer)

The lead forced Advance coach Dana Below to take a timeout. Below said she noticed early in the set that Leopold had made adjustments to their defense.

"I would say they were more aggressive on offense for sure, but what I noticed right away was that their defense was much more sound," Below said. "They played a lot tighter, and I think that really allowed them to hit more effectively on us because their defense was better."

The Hornets tried to close the gap, scoring two points right out of the timeout to make it 19-14, but the Wildcats answered with three straight points, including a service ace from Emily Seiler and a block by Petty to extend the lead to 22-14. A couple of errors by Advance allowed the Wildcats to pull away before Seiler hit her fourth kill to close out the set and give Leopold a 1-0 lead.

Petty had nine kills, a service ace and a block in the first set.

"I think every play that we set in motion tonight worked really well for us, especially in that first set," Petty said. "Practicing those all week really worked for me and our setters I thought. Emily [Seiler] did a good job of giving me sets which made it really easy on me."

Davis said the offense relies on Petty sometimes, but not always.

"She's definitely our go-to girl on most nights, but we have several on this team like Ashlyn Bucher and Bailee Cope that can convert points just as easily as she can, and they proved that tonight," Davis said.

The Leopold Wildcats celebrate after scoring a point in the second set of Thursday's volleyball match against Advance at Advance High School. (Trent Singer)

The final set looked similar to the first when Leopold jumped out to an 11-5 lead to force an Advance timeout.

Leopold committed two errors out of the timeout, but the Wildcats regained a comfortable 15-7 lead with two kills from Bucher and one each from Cope and Leah Landewee. The rally forced another Advance timeout.

"That was an ugly second set for us," Below said. "I couldn't put my finger on any one thing we didn't accomplish doing, it was just like we were experiencing a nightmare and they were playing their best volleyball against us."

There was no rally for the Hornets as the Wildcats went an a 10-5 run to close the set and match.

Petty did not have a kill in the final set, but she showed her versatility and finished with 11 assists.

"I really never wanted to set, but my coaches always made me when I was in seventh grade," Petty said. "I hated it then, but now I like setting better than hitting. I still like to hit, I would just rather get a touch on any ball that I can to help my team win."

As for the Hornets, Krystal James finished with five kills. Ashtyn Driskill added three kills and 12 assists. Kimsey Lillard and Hannah Clark led Advance with five digs each.

"Everyone of my girls does what they need to do. They do their jobs," Davis said. "They're starting to pick up on offense, pick up on defense and really just play their hearts out. It takes the whole team to be able to do what we do, and I think after tonight everyone is onboard with that."