Woodland handles heat, Clearwater for district crown

~ The Cardinals advanced to the sectional round with a 25-12, 27-25 victory

The Woodland Cardinals admittedly have struggled in pressure situations this season.

In the second game of their Class 2 District 2 title bout against top-seeded Clearwater, the Cardinals found themselves in one of those situations they have struggled with so often.

Turns out, they aren't so bad under pressure after all.

Woodland completed the two-game sweep of Clearwater 25-12, 27-25 to capture the district crown at Saxony Lutheran High School.

"My girls have never dealt good with pressure," Woodland coach Kacie Patton said. "The three years I've been here, when it came pressure, we folded. I call it the mental game, we fold when it comes to the mental game, and we have been trying to be mentally tough all year long.

"A couple of times throughout the season we've been in those high pressure moments and we folded, last night against Saxony was the first time I saw my team not fold under pressure and they did it again tonight."

The Cardinals (24-9-1) led 21-19 in the second game and were on their way to a district title that has eluded them for years now, but Clearwater refused to go quietly.

After the Tigers tied it at 21-21, Patton called a timeout and had a message for her team.

"I simply told them chill out and relax," Patton said. "Do your job. It's one point at a time; they can't win the ballgame on one play."

The Cardinals responded.

Woodland senior Josie Long made two plays to keep the Cardinals alive.

Tied at 23-23, Long perfectly placed a tip for a 24-23 lead to put Woodland one point away from the title.

The Tigers answered on a serve return that found the line. Long then tipped another ball in the same place to gain a 25-24 advantage.

"I've known that I needed to tip there the whole time so I've been doing that and trying to get more points," Long said. "I was going to keep going there until I couldn't go there anymore."

The Tigers again managed to tie the game when Woodland's Shelby Sawyer sent a spike long.

Sawyer made up for it on the following play.

Tied at 25-25, Sawyer's spike was blocked and rolled along the top of the net before a Clearwater player mishit into the stands.

A play later, senior Rachel Poole blasted a spike that went off a Tiger and over the Cardinals' bench to set off a celebration.

"I can't even get words out because it's so crazy," Long said. "I don't even know, it's amazing."

Woodland had withstood the pressure on the district stage.

"That's definitely been our struggle this year," Poole said. "So I think it was really big that we just stayed in our winning mentality of not letting any mistakes effect how we play in the future."

Woodland could not have asked for a better start to their title quest.

The Cardinals jumped out to an 11-3 lead early in the first set.

"That was probably the key to the game," Poole said. "I think we established so much fire."

The Tigers closed the lead to 13-7, but Woodland held a 12-5 scoring edge from there.

"I believe that defense will win ballgames and blocking is probably the No. 1 thing on defense," Patton said. "If you have a good block, it's easy for your defenders to set up, so therefore it's easier to dig the ball. My blockers, the past two nights, they have come out to just block away. That's the one thing we've struggled with all year. My assistant, Melissa Rinacke, if it wasn't for her coming in the program, I don't know if we would have got there. I'm only 5-foot-2."

A year after losing to Puxico in the district final, the Cardinals finally have their district title.

"It feels so good," Patton said. I am so proud of the girls. I have seniors who have worked so hard and shown great leadership. I'm so glad the girls did. I have one junior on the team, the rest are sophomores and freshmen -- that's a great taste in their mouths for years to come."

Woodland will face the Class 2 District 3 tournament winner at 1 p.m. Saturday.