At this time last year, Glendale was celebrating a win against Ozark after snapping the Tiger’s 62-game winning streak against area teams.
Ozark flipped the script on Glendale on Tuesday. The Tigers won in straight sets 25-19, 25-14 to start their season off with a home win.
“We try not to think about [revenge],” said Ozark coach Adeana Brewer. “We definitely struggled starting out last season with the loss. But we really didn’t put a lot of emphasis on it being Glendale and that we lost last year. We put more emphasis on let’s take care of business on our side.”
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Glendale was competitive in the first set and actually attained the lead 11-9 early on. Ozark rallied back and scored the next six points to go up 15-11.
From there, the Falcons pulled to within one point at 16-15, but Ozark outlasted Glendale at completed the first set 25-19.
“It felt good,” said Ozark junior Macey Putt. “We needed to like, have a comeback from last year because we had a wimpy start last year.”
Putt, a 6-foot outside hitter for the Tigers, led the team with eight kills and added six digs in the match, including a kill to secure the first set for Ozark.
“[Putt is] definitely a force at the net, someone who’s very physical, hits a very heavy ball,” said Coach Brewer. “I’d hate to be on the other side of that digging it. But she’s going to be one of our go-to players. There has got to be people that surround her, but we definitely look for her to put away a ball when we need a side-out. She’s going to get the ball in her hands quite a bit.”
The second set wasn’t as close. Although jumping out to a quick 2-1 lead, Glendale faded as Ozark went on to win the second set by eleven points.
“We knew we just had to get a block up on Elizabeth [Quinn],” said Putt. “We just had to go out and push harder. We played them at the jamboree and won, but we couldn’t keep thinking that way into this game.”
Since winning the Class 4 state championship in 2009, the Ozark Tigers have made a habit of making deep runs in the state tournament. In fact, Ozark has made it to the Class 4 Final Four every year since that state title, including five-straight third-place finishes from 2011-2015.
“We hope to keep the tradition alive,” Putt said. “That’s our main goal. Just come together more as a team and be more consistent. That’s been our problem so far, not being as consistent all the time.”
Sidney Bach (12 assists) and Brynn Bonewell (11 assists) were productive setters for Ozark in the match. Bonewell also added a team high four aces. Sidney Branson was second in kills after Putt with seven. Holly Luginbill led the way with eight digs.
Glendale won their first game against Waynesville last Friday, so they are now 1-1 on the season. Their next match will be at home against Nixa on Thursday, Aug. 25.
The Ozark Tigers will also be in action Thursday when they travel to Arkansas to play Fayettville High School.
“I think physically, we have the capability to be really good,” said Brewer. “We’re pretty tall at the net. It’s just a matter of playing at the varsity level and being confident. So that’s our kind of overall goal and hopefully as the season progresses, we’ll be the best team at the end of the season. We have work to get there, and every match we play will improve that confidence, but I think that we can be really good at the end and that’s exciting.”
