Jackson volleyball team avenges loss to advance to district final

~ The Indians swept Poplar Bluff 25-16, 25-21 after falling to the Mules in the regular season

Jackson and Poplar Bluff couldn't pull away from each other in the second set of a Class 4 District 1 volleyball semifinal game Monday.

Every time one team would take a lead of more than a point, the other would answer with its own rally.

At one point, with her team trailing by two, Jackson coach Julie Brandmeyer called a timeout that turned her team around for good.

"We talked about where their open spots were on the court," Brandmeyer said about the timeout. "We talked about our offensive scheme a little bit and who our go-to hitters were in each rotation. ... We just tried to talk technically to them so that they understand where they can score points."

The Indians outscored the Mules 10-4 following that timeout to win the game and complete a 25-16, 25-21 victory.

When the two teams faced off early in the season the Mules won 25-16, 25-13.

"I know that we've been growing all season," Brandmeyer said. "That was early in the season, and I knew that it was a lot of practices and a lot of improvements since then. We were confident, but we also knew it would be a battle. I'm surprised it didn't go three games, honestly, so it was a good matchup for a semifinal district game."

The third-seeded Indians advanced to host top-seeded and defending district champion Farmington (15-10-2) at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the district championship.

Farmington defeated Poplar Bluff last year to claim the title.

Jackson lost in three games to Farmington on Oct. 1, taking the first game 25-18 before losing 10-25, 14-25.

"Farmington has a lot of powerful hitters," Brandmeyer said. "They do a good job hitting the line, they have a quicker offense, so defensively we know that we've got to play hard, and that's what we're going to focus on in practice tomorrow."

Chelsea Fowler led the Indians with nine kills, eight assists and eight digs in the win. Autumn Reid had seven kills and Hailey Mouser had six kills and five digs.

Kinzie Scott had 12 assists, three kills and three digs.

"She's doing a great job running our quick offense," Brandmeyer said of Scott. "She communicates and she's the quarterback of our team, and I think that she's really come a long way this season. I am especially proud of her."

Jackson defeated Sikeston (5-24-2) 25-9, 25-12 earlier in the evening in the first round of the tournament.

After getting behind 4-0 to start the match, the Indians went on a 17-0 run before taking the game. During that stretch Jackson had four aces from Mouser and the Indians finished with 20 aces in the match. Mouser had 10 and Reid had eight.

Fowler had eight kills, Reid had six, Mouser and Scott each had three and Hannah Hunt had two.