By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
GOWER - East Buchanan had to scratch and claw to win the first set of Tuesday's district championship match over West Platte, 25-23.
In the second, the Blue Jays got off to a 7-2 start. These two had played a five-setter in Gower on September 15. It looked like that could happen again.
The Bulldogs, however, reeled off a 23-7 run to end set two, and never trailed in set three, as East Buchanan went on to sweep West Platte 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-19) in the Class 2 District 16 championship at East Buchanan High School Tuesday.
After getting down 7-2 early in set two, things changed for East Buchanan after a quick timeout.
"It was just refocusing," East Buchanan coach Ryan Horn said. "When we played them earlier in the year, we never won back-to-back sets. It was a weird deal. We just tried to get everybody calmed down and know their jobs. Be back on our toes. I feel like we kind of came off the high for a second."
"We didn't really change anything defensively at that time. Just asked them to play a little bit harder and they did. I think we were able to set a tone in the second set and carry it through for the rest of the evening."
The Bulldogs got off to a strong start, leading 10-6 in set one. West Platte (15-12-4) rallied to tie it at 19-19 and then they led 22-21, but East Buchanan scored two straight to get the lead back and close out set one, 25-23.
Six service errors in the first set didn't help the Blue Jays.
After a sluggish start in the second, East Buchanan found its rhythm and went up 13-11, forcing a West Platte timeout.
It was never close after that, as the Bulldogs dominated the second and won 25-14. Senior Maya Watkins had three kills and two blocks in the second frame alone.
"We knew we just really wanted it," Watkins said. "We knew it wasn't an option to do anything else besides bring our energy up. We couldn't let any ball drop. We knew we had to get to every single ball possible. So, I think just the fact the whole team was ready to work together and we knew we had to get this done made it so much easier."
East Buchanan (29-5-1) got off to an 11-5 start in the third and never looked back. West Platte made a late push, making it 23-18, forcing a Bulldog timeout. The match was over shortly thereafter.
Sophomore Rilyn Sherwood and junior Holly Caylor each led East Buchanan offensively with seven kills. Watkins had six kills and three blocks total.
"Playing with them is just amazing," Caylor said of her teammates, particularly the four seniors on the roster. "They have such great attitudes and it's so fun to play with them."
Senior Brooklyn Adams had three kills and two blocks. Juniors Zora Whitt and Kylie Clark had two aces.
Senior Libby Vandel led West Platte with 11 kills, two blocks and an ace. Junior Klaira Groom had six kills and two blocks. Sophomore Arianna Nower had six kills for the Blue Jays as well.
This marks East Buchanan's third district title in the last four years, and their 29 wins is the most they've had in the modern era - the most since a 24-win mark in 2019 at least.
"I think this one pry means the most to me," Horn said, looking back on the titles in 2019 and 2020. "This senior group is just a special group. I didn't want them to go out and not have that third one. For them to get that tonight, that was a big deal for me personally. And it's huge for our program."
The Bulldogs will stay home Thursday to host Lafayette County (20-10) at 6:30 in state sectionals.
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