High school volleyball notebook: Gideon defends home court

GIDEON — Defending the home court.

That was the mantra for the Gideon High School volleyball team during Saturday's championship bracket at its own tournament.

Eight teams participated in the draw, with Pool 1 champion Gideon facing Cooter and Pool 2 champion Clarkton squaring off with Risco in the quarterfinals.

Clarkton High School's Bree Winchester prepares to go for the kill during the third-place match at the Gideon Tournament on Saturday, Sept. 23. (Photo by Eric Viccaro, staff)

Ultimately, Gideon defeated Winona 25-20, 25-20, for the tournament title while Clarkton settled for third place in a hard-fought, three-set conquest over Bloomfield (25-17, 23-25, 25-21).

“We came out a little slow on Saturday, but the girls quickly figured out they had to put in some work,” Gideon head coach Kristen Ashabranner commented. “Overall, I was very pleased with the way we played.”

Ashabranner made some lineup adjustments, and urged the Bulldogs to play with maximum effort for every point. One notable change was Mady Clenney at libero.

Gideon High School�s Mady Clenney (22), Lexus Muller (18) and Skyla Woodall (2) and teammates celebrate a successful point versus Winona. (Photo by Eric Viccaro, staff)

“This is just one goal we hoped to attain this season,” Ashabranner added. “I told the girls I was proud of them, but there is still work to do.”

Gideon's Skyla Woodall and Madison Bonee both contributed late kills to help defeat Winona. Bonee scored Point No. 25 in the second set versus Winona, and the celebration was on.

Last year, Winona won the tournament championship over Gideon in straight sets — so this truly was a reversal of fortunes.

Clenney finished with three ace serves. Both Lexus Muller and Woodall finished with a team-high six kills while Gala Darmofal and Bonee had four kills apiece.

In other statistical categories, setter Jayden Buchanan distributed 21 assists as the Bulldog offense went exclusively through her. Muller also contributed one solo ace stuff.

Clarkton head coach Amy Cowart was proud of her Reindeer's finish.

“Even though we wanted to win the entire tournament, taking third is still an accomplishment,” Cowart said.

The coach said Winona's serving forced Clarkton into playing out of system — with very little rhythm offensively.

“We had to find a way to bounce back and be prepared,” Cowart continued. “We had to set the loss aside (Winona won 15-25, 25-15, 25-21 in the semifinals) and reset our minds for the next battle. We couldn't dwell on the loss.”

Eventually, Clarkton found the resolve to push past Bloomfield, clinching the match on a Brinley Cowart kill. Cowart had 34 assists, three kills (.222 hitting percentage) and 12 digs overall.

Bloomfield wasn't prepared for Cowart to bring the thunder, and the Reindeer scored Point No. 25 in the third set for the match.

Bree Winchester finished with 18 kills, a 0.182 attack efficiency and nine digs. Angel Johnson added 13 kills (.458 hitting) and four digs. Alana Crowder contributed three kills and three ace serves. Both Nayely Rivera and Lexi Elizondo added 11 digs. Rivera also posted five kills.

Gideon improved to 13-6-1 overall. Clarkton stands at 17-5-1, Risco is 13-8 and Cooter 6-8-1 heading into this week's matches.

Jonesboro Play Day

JONESBORO, Ark. — Holcomb and Senath-Hornersville won one set each during pool play at the highly competitive Jonesboro Hurricane Play Day Saturday.

In bracket play, Mountain Home topped Holcomb in the silver quarterfinals while Senath-Hornersville reached the bronze semifinals before it was ousted by Hoxie.

Conway defeated Dyer County (Tenn.) for the gold championship while Paragould was tops in the silver division and Hoxie took bronze.

Holcomb stands at 14-6-2 and Senath-Hornersville 9-10-2 after this past weekend's play.

SEMO Tournament Thursday

CAPE GIRARDEAU — Kennett, with a 5-7-2 record, has drawn Sikeston in the opening round of the Southeast Missouri Conference tournament slated for the SportsPlex Thursday.

Kennett's match is slated for 3 p.m., on Court No. 5. The championship match is set for 6 p.m., on Court No. 2, with the third-place match at the same time on Court No. 5.

All matches will be best-of-three to 25 points with no cap, Jackson volleyball coach Dave Mirly reported in an email.