Lady ’Cats win District title, fall in quarterfinals

By Editor | November 6, 2024 |

Photo by Shari Harris
The Class 2 District 8 Champion Licking Lady Wildcats volleyball team. From left, kneeling: Linzie Wallace, Allie Medlock, Ralee Clayton, Allie Hock, Zoey Dawson, Aubrey Gorman and Harlie Buchanan; standing: Head Coach Tammy Gorman, Alaina Rogers, Lily Godi, Avery Stephens, Kylee Rinne, Hadlee Davis, Jadyn Barnes, Kate Mitchell, Addison Floyd, Manager Kinley Keaton, and Assistant Coach Brenley Smith.

By Shari Harris, Publisher

The Licking Lady Wildcats went into this season’s District tournament with a first place seed, earning a first round bye. They faced fourth-seed Steelville on Friday, October 25, at Dixon.

Licking advanced from the semifinal round with a convincing three-set win over the Lady Cardinals, 25-14, 25-13 and 25-11.

At Tuesday’s championship game, it was second-seed Belle who faced a Licking team that was determined to end the evening with a victory. The Lady Wildcats put together three sets of play with minimal mistakes. Several individuals had some outstanding plays that kept the momentum rolling. Kate Mitchell’s blocking confounded the Belle offense, and the Lady ’Cat hitters showed more consistency with their spikes, keeping them in bounds and finding the holes in Belle’s defense.

Licking won the Class 2 District 8 championship game in three sets, 25-8, 25-14 and 25-11.

Photos by Shari Harris

A home floor advantage went to Licking this year as they hosted the Class 2 Sectional round, welcoming District 7 Champion Stover on Halloween night.

In the first set, the outcome was uncertain until the very end. Licking and Stover swapped one- and two-point leads several times. Licking took the first set 25-23.

At the outset of the second set, it appeared that Stover was in command as they took a 7-2 lead before Licking’s Coach Tammy Gorman called a time out. She tried to settle her team, but they would trail by as much as seven before they turned a corner and stormed back, tying it at 14-14. Stover pulled ahead again by as much as four points, but the Lady Wildcats fought back again, tying it up again at 21-21 and never looking back, winning the set 25-21.

The consecutive comebacks appeared to take the wind out of the sails of the Stover Lady Bulldogs. Licking led the third set by 8-3 when Stover called the first time out, and more than doubled their lead to 19-7 when the second time out came. The final score was 25-10, giving Licking the three-set win, and advancing them to the Quarterfinal Round.

Photos by Shari Harris

Licking also hosted their Quarterfinal match on Saturday with District 6 Champion Hermann, who had defeated District 5 Champion Duchesne in Sectional play on Thursday.

Licking struggled to get momentum moving in their direction, and Hermann took advantage of every opportunity, building up an 18-10 lead before the Lady ’Cats could get on a roll. But it was too little, too late, and the first set went to Hermann, 25-18.

Licking again saw Hermann pull ahead in the second set. But the Lady ’Cats didn’t give in, fighting back against a 6-15 deficit and outscoring Hermann 13 points to their four, to tie the set at 19-19. The lead went back and forth to a 22-22 tie, then a three-point streak by Hermann put the set away, 25-22.

Hermann built up a lead in the third set as well, and it appeared the fight was gone from Licking, as they fell behind by 10, then 12 points, trailing 3-15. But the Lady ’Cats found their strength and challenged Hermann again. They outscored the Bearcats 15-10 after that point, but Hermann had enough to take its third set 25-18, and won the match,

While Licking supporters were disappointed to see their team not advance to the final four, they were inspired by the grit and courage the team displayed when things were tough. This team improved throughout the season to win a District title and advance to the top eight in Class 2 in the State of Missouri. Congratulations on an excellent season.