By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
GOWER - The East Buchanan volleyball team had a mantra they wanted to live up to in the 2022 season.
Winning is an attitude.
They even wanted the phrase on their team shirts. Head coach Ryan Horn was a bit apprehensive of that.
"That kind of scared me," Horn said. "If you go to places in the summer with that on the back of your shirt, you're a target."
Target or not, East Buchanan (31-5-1) has taken their theme to heart. Winning has become the attitude, if not the reality. The Bulldogs have won a record 31 matches in 2022, including wins in 15 of their last 17 outings.
Senior Brooklyn Adams explains this winning attitude.
"Whenever you get on the court, just have that mindset of 'We want to be here to win and we want to play,'" Adams said. "Just work together as a team and always have that in the back of your head. Play for each other and just want to be there to win."
The Bulldogs swept their way through the Class 2 District 16 bracket, winning their third district title in the last four years.
After a sweep at home against Lafayette County in state sectionals, East Buchanan went on the road to face Lone Jack, and found themselves down in the match 2-0.
After dropping set two 25-14, something changed.
"They just fixed it," Horn explained. "I told a few people, we didn't really change anything at that time. We changed some things later, but not at that moment. It was just more of like, 'Show who you are, prove who you are.' And, they did."
The Bulldogs won the next three sets and pulled off a thrilling 3-2, come-from-behind win, putting East Buchanan volleyball into the Final Four for the first time in program history.
"It's been the first East Buch volleyball team to make it this far," said senior Gracie Kelsey. "It's just a new adventure and something new for us that we have never been able to experience. The last team any girls' team went to state was our freshman year (girls' basketball in 2020). The younger kids don't know what it's like. So, to be able to let more people experience it is awesome."
It's been a historic season in more ways than one. The 31 wins are a school record. Coach Horn eclipsed 150 career wins with the victory over Lafayette County in sectionals.
Senior libero Kinzie Woodside is over 1,500 career digs, which currently ranks ninth all time in the state. That's not all.
Junior setter Kylie Clark has surpassed 1,000 career assists. Senior outside hitter and middle Maya Watkins is over 1,000 career kills. Junior Zora Whitt is over 100 career aces. The list goes on.
Horn says all of those milestones sound a little better when the wins come along with them.
"It makes it meaningful, fun, exciting, all of those things," he said. "It's a lot easier to celebrate those things with your team after a win. Since we've done a lot of winning this year, it's been fun."
East Buchanan is now in Cape Girardeau to face Jefferson Festus (30-5-1) in state semifinals on Friday night at 6 p.m. at the Show Me Center.
The Bulldogs will then either face Hermann (30-9-1) or Strafford (26-8-1) in the Class 2 championship on Saturday at 4 p.m. or in the third place match at 2 p.m.
Whatever happens, it's been a memorable journey for East Buchanan volleyball this season, especially for a group of four seniors, who were within a handful of points of reaching the Final Four as freshmen in 2019.
It's also a group of seniors who adopted and have lived out their 'winning is an attitude' motto.
They're hopeful this level of trust, talent and confidence can carry them through to more historic heights in 2022.
"This team is different," Woodside said. "There's something about the chemistry we have and how we work together. I think all around our volleyball play is there. I think if we show up and we're always ready to play, then it's going to be good."
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