Nixa battled three-time defending state champion Lafayette (Wildwood) in the Class 5 state semifinals on Thursday, but the Eagles came up short of earning a spot in the state title game with a 3-1 (25-21, 25-13, 22-25, 25-19) loss.
The first set was tied early on at 5-5 but a 4-0 run by Lafayette moved the score to 9-5 and the Lancers didn’t trail again on the way to a 25-21 set victory.
Set two was dominated by Lafayette jumping out to a 22-9 lead eventually winning the set 25-13.
In the third set, Nixa came out firing. The Lady Eagles took a lead at 3-2 and then never trailed again building up a lead as big as seven on the way to a 25-22 set victory. It was only the 12th set Lafayette had lost all season and the second set Nixa took off Lafayette in addition to a regular season set victory.
Nixa came out hot again in the fourth set taking a quick 6-2 lead. The Lancers responded with a 6-0 run a few points later to go ahead 10-7. The Lancers did not trail again taking the set and match with a 25-19 win.
Gwen and Cora Kubik led the attack for Nixa with 15 and 10 kills, respectively. Taylor Wood had seven kills and a team-high 22 assists. Peyton Creed contributed 13 assists. Mara Coulter led the defense with 21 digs. Addy Bybee also had double-digit digs with 10.
For Lafayette, University of Nebraska commit Shaye Witherspoon was a force with 30 kills on 61 attacks.
Nixa plays for third place at 10 am on Friday.
