Women's Volleyball 9/15/2021 8:40:00 AM By Ryan Retone, Student Intern

Lady Eagles storm back and win after dropping first set

Nixa volleyball took on Kickapoo (9-3) in a road match-up with implications in Class 5 District 11. Coming into the matchup, the Lady Chiefs were the early front runners for the top seed, having wins over Republic and Ozark. Last season these teams played 5 times, Nixa (4-0) won all five times including the district championship game.

In the first set, neither team could pull away throughout the early stages. The Lady Eagles attempted to establish the tone early as they were on the attack throughout the entire set. However, missed serves and errors led to Kickapoo hanging around long enough to run away with the set in the end. The Lady Chiefs would go on a huge six-point run, that would make it a set point at 24-19. Kickapoo's Caroline Field closed out the set one victory with a kill.

Set two was more back and forth to begin. The Lady Eagles stayed in attack mode again, and the Lady Chiefs chose to do the same. Nixa's relentless attack proved to be too much for the Kickapoo defense. Nixa would take a 12-11 lead on a kill from outside hitter Jaycee Fixsen and never looked back from there. The Lady Eagles enjoyed a lead of up to 24-16 that saw them exhausting a swing play to Jena Medaris and Hillary Estes that had the defense puzzled all night. A Norah Clark kill would even the match up at one set a piece, as Nixa went on to win set two 25-18.

The Lady Eagles started set three out on fire with a 9-4 lead, and Kickapoo wouldn't lay down for long. The Lady Chiefs came back within one point at 11-10, but that is as close as they would come. Fixsen and Estes would come alive and the Nixa lead would grow to eight. The Lady Eagles would take the set 25-17.

Nixa ran away with set four, behind three aces from Fixsen. At 20-13, Medaris had a kill to end a long rally that gave the Lady Eagles all the momentum. A serve out of bounds ended the night, as Nixa won the set 25-15.

Fixsen led the attack with 3 aces and 15 kills. Golden assisted on 36 of the Lady Eagles points. Juniors Emma Conrad and Estes played a big role on defense, Conrad had 18 digs while Estes added 3 blocks.

Nixa moves to 4-0 on the season and will take a full week off before their next game at Logan-Rogersville (4-1) on Thursday, Sept. 16. The Lady Eagles also travel back to Kickapoo on Saturday, Sept 18 to play in the Springfield Classic.

The win plays a pivotal role in the Class 5 District 11 seeding, Nixa moves to the driver's seat while Kickapoo will be playing catch-up to make a push for the top seed.

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