‘Team effort’ boosts Republic past Joplin

Republic fought back from an early deficit in the third set to beat Joplin at home, 28-26, 22-25, 25-21. The Lady Tigers trailed 7-2 after the first nine points, but won 14 of the last 20 to pull out the victory.
“I’m just so proud of my team tonight,” said coach Allison Davis after the match. “We’ve been talking all season about being mentally tough. We have lost some games that were very questionable and I felt like we deserved the win but we weren’t able to finish. And that’s the thing we’ve been pushing this whole season,
is we have to be a more mentally tough team ... and finish those big points and those big games. And tonight they did exactly that.”
Republic nearly let the first set slip away after taking a 23-19 lead. Joplin won five in a row, but the Lady Tigers overcame two set points to win 28-26.
Rylee Moseman led Republic with 10 kills. She also dished out 19 assists. Emma Pearce contributed 10 digs, and Kailey Manes and Carle Ward had two blocks apiece. Chelsea Mobley added five service aces for the Lady Tigers.
“I said in the locker room that this was a complete team effort,” said Davis. “Even the people on the bench – they have so much heart. I told them, ‘I need you to keep the people on the court up,’ and they’re giving everything. Yeah, they want to play, but they want to do whatever’s best for the team. And this was a complete team win.”
Republic improved to 9-11-3 overall and 2-4 in the Central Ozark Conference. Joplin fell to 13-10-2 and 0-6 in the COC.