Springfield, Mo. — In an early-season meeting of area heavyweights, Nixa utilized depth and balance to defeat Kickapoo in straight-sets (25-16, 25-21) Tuesday night.

Seniors Jordan Collard and Kenzie Hines combined for 15 kills to lead the Lady Eagles attack.

Collard notched 8 digs and 3 aces in the victory, as well.

The all-state selection talked about slowing down Kickapoo's vaunted net play.

"We really worked all week to just focus on those hitters and, really, just make our defense work around it," Collard said. "We knew it was going to be tough, but we made ways to make it work."

From the opening serve, both teams battled to establish momentum.

Midway through the first set, Hines queued a 3-0 run with a trio of kills to give Nixa a 17-11 lead.

Lady Eagles head coach Annie Zimmerman praised her team's ability to move the ball quickly, find open spots on the floor and keep Kickapoo out of system.

"In the first set, I felt like we were kind of controlling the tempo with our offense," Zimmerman said. "We were making good connections — our center-hitter connections were good — so, we were able to keep that tempo really fast. I thought that kind of put them in some situations where they weren't in system quite as much."

A 7-1 run helped Nixa close out the first set in dominant fashion.

The Lady Eagles jumped out quickly to a 10-2 lead in the second thanks to Collard's strong play at the service line.

Zimmerman praised her senior leader's performance in a critical spot.

"When [Collard] steps back there, she's super-confident and hits the spots that we're telling her to hit," Zimmerman said. "Her accuracy — that's big. Every serve that she sends across the net might not be the hardest or the fastest, but she's putting it where we want her to."

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Game photos can be found here.
 

Varsity final: Nixa – 2, Kickapoo – 0 (25-16, 25-21)
JV final: Nixa – 2, Kickapoo – 1 (25-17, 19-25, 25-15)
Frosh final: Nixa – 2, Kickapoo – 0 (25-15, 25-19)