Woodland reaches final of district volleyball tournament

~ The Cardinals turned back Saxony Lutheran in three sets to reach tonight's title match

It wasn't the final point of the match. Actually, it didn't even clinch a game for the Woodland volleyball team.

But it might have saved the Cardinals season all the same, and it certainly proved pivotal in an 18-25, 25-21, 25-17 victory over host Saxony Lutheran in a Class 2 District 2 semifinal Monday night.

After falling behind early and losing the opening game, the second-seeded Cardinals never trailed in Game 2 and opened up a 20-13 lead at one point. But five consecutive points from No. 3 seed Saxony Lutheran, capped off by an ugly miscommunication between a Woodland setter and a back row player that allowed a ball to fall to the ground, shrunk Woodland's lead to 22-21.

That's when seniors Josie Long and Lindsey Porzelt flipped the script with a double block on the outside that resulted in a stuff of a powerful attack.

Saxony Lutheran fans react after a call goes against the Crusaders during their three-game loss to Woodland in a Class 2 District 2 semifinal. Woodland won 18-25, 25-21, 25-17.

"Huge momentum changer," Woodland coach Kacie Ritter Patton said about the play. "I've told them anything that you do, any type of action you do -- whether it's a block, an ace, a kill -- that should show all over your body because when that shows that just gets more momentum. People feed off that."

Long and senior Rachel Poole closed out the set with back-to-back kills.

"Personally it feels pretty good if you block it and nobody touches it and it goes straight down," Long said. "It lifts everybody up, and you know that you can do anything."

Woodland went on a 7-1 run to take an 10-8 lead in Game 3 and never trailed again. Woodland recorded three more kill blocks in the final game, and Saxony coach Alissa Ernst said the Cardinals block caused her players to be less aggressive.

"It affects a hitter mentally, very negatively mentally, because when you give something all the power you've got and it doesn't break through a block, it's really hard to recover from that and continue to swing," Ernst said. "Their block was not just a block, they had it solid and closed out, which is very hard to do. We have some amazing hitters, and most of the time they can swing through. Tonight we played a little off key."

Woodland players huddle during the first game of their district semifinal match against Saxony Lutheran.

Ernst pointed out milestones for her players to be proud of, such as defeating Leopold for the first time in school history and winning a game off Notre Dame, but she lamented their play in the final game.

"We weren't playing aggressive," Ernst said. "We hit a few, they blocked it, then we got nervous and started tipping. Whenever you're playing a strong team such as Woodland, tipping's not going to win the game. It'll prolong it, but it won't win it. It's hard to get there mentally to keep swinging."

The match couldn't have started much better for Saxony (19-13-1), which defeated Scott City in straight games earlier in the evening to advance. After Woodland won the first two points of the match before missing a serve, sophomore Brianna Mueller served nine consecutive points, including an ace and two unreturned serves, to help the Crusaders build a 10-2 lead.

"They did their job there," Ritter Patton said. "That was what they wanted to do, and they did their job."

Although they couldn't recover to win the game, the Cardinals went on a pair of 4-0 runs and closed to within three points at one point, which allowed them to feel better entering the second game.

Saxony Lutheran outside hitter Raegan Wieser spikes during the second game of Monday’s district Class 2 District 2 semifinal against Wooland at Saxony Lutheran High School. (Adam Vogler)

"We had to get our momentum, and we had to get some confidence built back into our bodies," Ritter Patton said. "Volleyball is such a momentum game and such a confidence game that you have to build momentum to carry you, whether you lose that first set or second set."

Woodland will face top-seeded Clearwater for the district title at 7 p.m. tonight. The Cardinals lost to Puxico in the district final a season ago and finished with 13 wins in Ritter Patton's second season at the school after collecting just six wins in her first season. This season they'll take a 23-9-1 record and a much loftier goal into the title game.

"We want to go to state," Long said. "State is the way we want to go."