By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO - A magical season has come to an end for the East Buchanan volleyball team.
It was a season filled with accomplishments, including a district championship, three tournament wins, several player milestones and even a milestone in wins for the head coach Ryan Horn, who earned his 150th career win in state sectionals.
The season ends with the Bulldogs as the fourth best team out of 95 teams in the state in Class 2.
East Buchanan met the Strafford Indians at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau Saturday in the MSHSAA third place game, falling in three sets, 25-15, 25-19, 26-24. While it's not the finish the Bulldogs hoped for, it's still one to be proud of.
The match started slow for the Bulldogs, with the Indians getting off on a few long runs before Coach Horn would call a timeout. Horn says slow starts have been a problem for his team all season.
"Fortunately, that's been kind of our MO this year, we've tried 100 different things to figure out how to change it and it's just something we're going to have to work on for years to come," Horn tells reporters following the match.
East Buchanan kept up with Strafford and stayed in the match, before the Indians put together another long run to take the set 25-15.
The Bulldogs adjusted well through the next two sets, competing hard through set two and making it a back-and-forth affair, as neither team could get on an extended run, until with the set tied at 14. Strafford would pull off a 3-0 run, forcing Horn into a timeout with the second set score at 17-14.
Momentum would not be killed, though as the Indians would score three straight points out of the timeout, extending the run to 6-0, before Horn would call another timeout. The Bulldogs would claw back, but fell in the second 25-19.
The senior leadership stepped up for the Bulldogs heading into set three. With the court silent as both teams huddled, voices of seniors Maya Watkins and Kinzie Woodside could be overheard trying to get their team fired up.
"Maya and I talked to the team and were like if you want to win, we're going to have to start going," Woodside said.
And get going they did. The Bulldogs started off set three on their best run, taking a quick lead before the Indians would storm back, taking a 10-9 lead before a Horn timeout. Out of the timeout, East Buchanan took the lead back, outscoring Strafford 8-4 and forcing a timeout from the Indians, leading 17-14.
Timeouts proved to be the momentum killer over the final stretch, as Strafford took East Buchanan's lead away out of the timeout. The Bulldogs were resilient, as they would fight to a 22-19 lead before another Indians timeout. That timeout marked the final blow.
With the Bulldogs leading and heads held high, Strafford stormed back out of the break, tying it up before taking a lead and outscoring East Buchanan 7-2 to take set three, 26-24, and win the match.
"We definitely didn't, just for ourselves, perform the way I was hoping we would do," Horn says of his team's performance over the state championship weekend. "It's hard when it's the team's first time, it's the coaches first time, just trying to get everything rolling and get used to the situation, and we just weren't really able to do that at any point really."
While the outcome is not what her and the team hoped for, Woodside says it still means a lot to make it as far as they did.
"Coming into this season we had this huge goal (of making the Final Four) and to think now we accomplished it, yes the moment right now sucks, because it just didn't turn out the way we wanted it to, we didn't all play the way we wanted to," Woodside says. "But, I know in a few days I will understand what this really meant, and I think it says something a lot about our class and our team how we created that goal and accomplished it, it's really special."
The Bulldogs were led in kills by senior Maya Watkins with 13. Junior Kylie Clark tallied 24 assists on offense, while Woodside led on defense with 13 digs.
East Buchanan finishes the season 31-7-1, losing four seniors, but set to return 10 players that now have state experience under their belts.
For Horn, his message to his team was consistent - no matter the result, he was proud of everything they accomplished this season.
"We still finished top four out of 90 or 100 teams," Horn says. "I said it's ok to be upset with the way it ended, but also at some point they'll put it into perspective what they accomplished and so will I and I know I'm proud of them, they know I'm proud of them and I hope they're proud of each other."
