Bloomfield volleyball team edges Saxony Lutheran in district final

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- When Bloomfield's Katie Tippen stood behind the service line with the Class 2 District 2 volleyball championship on the line, both she and Bloomfield coach Sherilyn Long were thinking about last season.

In both the district and sectional championship last year, Tippen had the serve in her hands with the match on the line and drilled an ace.

"I just wanted to do it again. I was just like, 'I can do it.' I just kept thinking about it," Tippen said.

Tippen tossed the ball up, her serve dipped to the left side and the dig went well wide of the court for her first ace of the match. With it, Bloomfield beat Saxony-Lutheran 11-25, 25-23, 25-23 and secured its second straight district title.

"I'm just excited. I can't believe it happened. It is just crazy. I'm so excited," said Tippen, who finished with an ace, two kills, two assists and seven digs.

Bloomfield jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the final set after the Lady Crusaders committed three attacking errors.

"I think we just got off to a rocky start. We had a couple of hitting errors early on. We were so anxious to hit a hard ball and to play well and do well, we were a little early on our first step," Saxony Lutheran coach Julie Brandmeyer said. "We were overplaying just a little bit in Game 3 in the beginning."

With that early first step, the ball was drifting behind the Crusaders' heads at the start of the third set, causing their attacks to go long. By the time Saxony Lutheran earned its second kill in the final game, it was trailing 11-6.

Bloomfield was still ahead by five points late in the match. The Crusaders tied it up at 21-all but weren't able to take the lead.

The Wildcats clawed out the narrowest of advantages thanks to a kill by Jewell Chism and a tip by Nicole Roper.

Roper's tip gave Bloomfield a 24-23 lead and put the match in Tippen's hands.

"They went so hard in those last two sets, I could not be more proud. I am just elated right now," Long said.

In the first set, the Crusaders traded points early, but then went on an 8-2 run to go ahead 15-8.

"I thought we came out aggressively. We were swinging at balls. We just couldn't miss in Game 1. I think everything was flowing just right," Brandmeyer said.

Neither team ever led by more than two points in the second set. Bloomfield freshman Bailey Below earned three points late, including a key block to give Bloomfield a 24-23 lead. The Crusaders then sent a kill long to force a decisive third set.

Allie Sprink and Jordan Hecht led the Crusaders' offense. Sprink finished with 12 kills while Hecht had 10.

Hecht also had 13 assists and 11 digs. Brianna Mueller led Saxony with 17 assists. Logan Franke had 19 digs, followed by Ashley Fritsche with 17 and Sprink with 16.