After the best two sets the Tigers had played this season to open the match, the Tigers couldn’t hold on on Senior Night at Tiger Gym on Thursday. After defeating Father Tolton in the first two sets, 25-21, and a commanding, 25-16, the Tigers dropped the next three.
“I feel like we played our best volleyball in the first two sets,” Kirksville head coach Missy Dempsay said. “Unfortunately, Missouri doesn’t play best-two-of-three. The first sets don’t mean anything, and I told our girls that.
“You can’t miss 19 serves against a team like that. It hurts to not leave with a win tonight.”
It’s a loss on Senior Night that would be heartbreaking for any coach who next marches into the hardest Class 4 District in the state. (Versus an Orchard Farm team sitting at 18-4-1, in St. Charles, Wednesday at 4 p.m., bus leaves at 10. Somehow Orchard Farm finds itself in the three-seed spot in this three-versus-six match-up. Hannibal lingers in the District.)
Kirksville falls to 6-13. Tolton advances to .500 at 14-14-2, but as discussed in the Express before, has had the geographical luxury of playing almost double the schedule Kirksville has. In the third set, the Tigers trailed 17-6 before battling to force 25-19. In the fourth set, Kirksville was flat and exhausted and fell 25-12. The fifth set was 15-11 after the Tigers fought back to make it a three-point deficit at 12-9 but couldn’t hold on.
Dempsay was excited for the future as a positive on Thursday.
“We’re young, but our seniors have been great leaders. It’s an exciting night, but after something like this, it’s a tough night. We’ve moved our seniors around to different positions and they’ve responded. We’re not tall at all, so we have to adapt.”
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