Sophomore outside attacker Tara Venable and junior middle Skylar Hilton led the way with 10 and 9 kills respectively. Hilton recorded a career high hitting percentage with .818%.
The first four points of the match were traded back and forth between the Tigers and the Bulldogs before Ozark Libero Macy Humble went on a 7 point service run including two aces. The rest of set one was dominated by the Tigers as junior setter Reece Cook served up 5 of her 6 recorded aces in the match. Ozark’s offense was stellar and kept pressure on the Bulldogs the remainder of the first set.
The second set was much of the same as junior Jenna LaBarge served the first four points of the match. The Bulldogs sideout on an attack error by the Tigers front row. Ozark quickly gains back the momentum off of back to back kills by Venable. Cook continues to find the hot hand at the end of the match and Hilton seals the second set win with two consecutive kills.
The third set was a bit of a slower start for the Tigers as the Bulldogs raced out to a 3-0 run, but an in system pass by LaBarge led to a kill by Hilton putting the Tigers on the board. The two teams battled the next few points back and forth with the game as close as 8-7, but it was all Ozark after that forcing a Bulldog timeout with a 13-8 lead. Ozark continued to be aggressive behind the serving line forcing Central to make several errors and was able to clinch the set and match 25-11.
Setter Reece Cook recorded 23 assists and sophomore defensive specialist Alexis Andela led the way defensively with 6 digs.
The Ozark Freshman and JV teams both won in two sets with two solid performances in their first games of the season.
The Ozark Tigers will travel to Kickapoo High School on Tuesday, September 5th for their second match and their first road game of the 2023 season.
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