Her Ozark Tigers volleyball team had just completed the rigorous task of winning the highly-touted Crossroads Classic volleyball tournament. Ozark defeated Glen Ellyn (Glenbard West) in the Gold Flight Finals in three sets.
“I needed to soak in the tournament,” Baade said. “The competition is always really good and challenges us and I think it prepares us for our games.”
The Tigers won the first set 25-20, lost the second 19-25 and won the third 25-23.
Heading into the matchup, many may have thought the Hilltoppers were the heavy favorites.
Ozark had other plans, though.
“We knew it was going to be a back-and-forth battle and sometimes, when you go against a physical team like Glenbard, you know you have to side-out quick and score,” head coach Adeana Brewer said. “You can’t let a good team go on a run of points and I thought we did a good job handling that.”
The Tigers had 41 kills, 11 blocks and 53 digs against Glenbard West. They also served at a 92.8-percent clip and had 39 assists.
Baade — a Missouri State commit — hit .333 in the match and had 33 kills for the tournament.
Where she felt she was the most productive, though, was on the defensive end of the floor.
“Going to Missouri State for my defensive abilities, to prepare, I think (opponents) have to serve aggressively because our serve-receive line is really good whenever we’re on,” Baade said. “I always focus a lot on defense since that’s what I’m pursuing for college.”
Baade finished with 51 serve-receive attempts for the tournament and passed a 2.20. She also had 31 digs.
The Crossroads Classic Tournament Most Valuable Player did not go to her, though.
Instead, it went to teammate Tara Venable — a sophomore outside hitter.
Venable finished with 48 kills for the tournament and hit .348.
“It’s exciting,” Venable said. “I was trying to have a confident mentality. I know my back-row is really good and my setter is really good, so I trusted them.”
Ozark opened the tournament with a two-set win over Effingham (25-14, 25-22).
The Tigers then defeated Terre Haute South Vigo in two sets (25-17, 25-19).
Brewer said the “sense of urgency” wasn’t there on Friday, though, despite not dropping one set.
“Friday, we didn’t have as much a sense of urgency as we had today,” Brewer said. “We played two late matches after a six-hour bus ride, which impacted our play, consistency and energy a little bit on Friday night. As a team, we talked about turning that on today and I think they did that, so they played well as a cohesive unit. They were relentless on floor defense and were relentless at the net, too.”
Ozark then opened Saturday with a two-set win over Metropolis (Massac County). The Tigers won the first set 25-20 and the second 25-16.
They then followed that with a win over perennial state champion contender Wheaton (St. Francis). Ozark won the first set 25-20 and the second 25-18 to vault themselves into the championship match.
“Both our semifinal match and championship match were very high-level,” Brewer said. “Both of those teams are very big and physical at the net, so we were a little bit undersized as far as height, but I think that fueled us to be better defensively.”
Aside from Baade and Venable, other individuals stepped up for the Tigers, too.
Reece Cook finished with 135 assists for the tournament. Defensively, she also passed at a two-percent clip.
Skylar Hilton finished with 24 kills and a team-best 11 blocks and passed at a two-percent clip.
Overall, Cook and Hilton were two of five players to pass a two or above. Jenna LaBarge passed a 2.19 and Macy Humble passed a 2.17. Baade was the fifth.
Ashya Thompson and Alexis Andela neared that number, too, passing a 1.83 and 1.81, respectively.
Brewer noted how disciplined her team needs to be defensively.
“We have to be very disciplined on defense. We have to be disciplined blockers to channel the ball,” Brewer said. “For us, playing as six unified people versus playing individually is the most important thing.”
Ozark competes in Class 5 in Missouri. They have one state championship, one second-place finish, seven third-place finishes and one fourth-place finish. The Tigers won the Crossroads Classic in 2018 and finished second to Breese (Mater Dei) in 2021.
“This is just a highly competitive tournament,” Brewer said. “It’s a great opportunity for our squad to travel out of town and see teams that we normally don’t see that are high-quality, very physical and well-coached. To have the opportunity to compete is something that we’re grateful for and being on top means we had to play really good volleyball against really good teams.”
Brewer continued, stating that the Crossroads Classic helps her team “get going” for t... Click here to read full article
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