The Riverton Lady Rams avenged a loss in pool play to McDonald County with a 10-25, 25-15, 25-22 win over the Lady Mustangs in the championship match of the 2020 Lady Mustang Classic Volleyball Tournament held on Oct. 17 at MCHS.
After splitting the first two sets in the championship match, the teams traded points to begin the third and deciding seat.
With the set tied at 12-12, Riverton took control when the Lady Rams went on an 8-2 run to take a 20-14 lead.
But McDonald County rallied behind the serving of Kaycee Factor, scoring seven consecutive points for a 21-20 lead.
Riverton scored to tie the set at 21-21 before McDonald County took a 22-21 lead, but the Lady Rams scored four straight points to close out the match and win the championship.
"We did well in pool play today," said coach Logan Grab. "We had struggled in pool play in our two previous tournaments, so it was good to see that. We came out really strong in the championship match but really struggled in the second set. The third set was just a fight to the end. We dug ourselves a hole and made a really good run at the end, but made a few errors that cost us."
McDonald County claimed a 12-25, 25-18, 25-17 win over College Heights in the semifinals after beginning bracket play with a 25-12, 25-8 win over Cassville.
After losing the first set to College Heights, the Lady Mustangs jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the second. College Heights closed to 18-16 before McDonald County closed out the set with a 7-2 run.
In the third and deciding set, McDonald County took a 17-5 lead with some of the Lady Mustangs' best play of the tournament.
College Heights closed to 21-13 when a fire alarm forced a 10-minute break in the action. Once the false alarm was reset, College Heights scored three straight points to cut the Lady Mustang lead to 21-16 before McDonald County scored four of the set's final five points.
McDonald County opened the tournament with a 25-21, 25-14 win over East Newton.
In the Lady Mustangs' second match of its pool, McDonald County won a 25-21, 25-15 decision over eventual tournament champion, Riverton.
McDonald County closed out pool play with a 25-17, 25-14 win over Cassville.
"Overall, it was a really good day," Grab said. "Would I have liked to have seen us win it? Absolutely, but we have not made it to the championship match in many years so it was nice to do that. I thought we played well all day."
McDonald County was led by Katelyn Ferdig with 34 kills, while Sydnie Sanny had 30 and Shye Hardin had 25. Erin Cooper had 105 assists on the day and Kaycee Factor had 72 digs. Sanny added seven aces and six blocks.
Other teams in the tournament included Sarcoxie and Seneca.
McDonald County improved to 17-13 for the season heading into its Oct. 20 match at Seneca. The Lady Mustangs will play the Big 8 crossover match on Oct. 22 at a site to be determined.
East Newton
McDonald County cruised to a 25-13, 25-16, 25-11 over East Newton on Oct. 14 at MCHS.
Hardin had 10 kills, Cooper 27 assists and three aces, and Factor 15 digs to lead McDonald County.
The Lady Mustangs' Oct. 13 match against Cassville at MCHS was postponed due to Cassville having several players under quarantine restrictions.
