Ozark coach Adeana Brewer was concerned coming into Tuesday's Christian County showdown with Nixa. Her Lady Tigers have had some struggles starting matches this season, while a young Nixa squad brings a lot of energy to the court each time out.

The Lady Tigers would drop the first set before rallying for a 2-1 home victory over their rival.

"They (Nixa) are an extremely young team, so they play with a lot of energy and a lot of fire with nothing to lose," Brewer said. "I feel like sometimes our team doesn't start out as strong because they have an expectation of themselves or a target on their backs. It takes a little time to get some rhythm going, but after we decided not to worry about who was on the other side of the net and just worried about playing Ozark volleyball on our side of the net then I felt like we created more rhythm."

Nixa came out and won the first set in decisive fashion 25-15. The Lady Eagles went on a 9-3 run to start the set and never allowed Ozark to threaten.

"They (Nixa) are very good defensively and they are going to keep rallies going," Brewer said. "A lot of times we will get that first ball kill and expect to end play when we attack it. Our talk in the huddle was that we have to keep going at them even if it doesn't happen in transition No. 1 or No. 2. Keep pressuring them and putting pressure on them so they error or make a mistake first."

Brewer had a simple message for her team between sets.

"After the first set coach Brewer told us that we needed to not worry about who we were playing and we just needed to play Ozark volleyball," senior Katie Vorhies said. "I think that stuck with a lot of us to keep our own skills and games and play to our own abilities and not be intimidated by our competitors."

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