Breaking: Gideon 'fights' its way to C1 volleyball state title game

Gideon High School volleyball coach Kristen Ashabranner celebrates following the Bulldogs' win over South Iron in the MSHSAA Class 1 State Semifinal on Friday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

CAPE GIRARDEAU – When a volleyball program has won 32 of its 34 matches in a season, 63 of its last 68, and its senior class has won 87 percent (118-17) of its matches during its four-year career, one can assume that such a team often wins on talent alone and just showing up.

There have certainly been days like that for Gideon. However, in its past two matches, the Bulldogs had to do a lot more than just show up to prevail. They had to deal with a great amount of adversity, dig deep into a well of toughness, and fight like Hell with their backs against a figurative wall.

Gideon beat South Iron 25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 25-9 in the MSHSAA Class 1 State Semifinal on Friday at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

The Bulldogs (32-1-1) will face Miller (33-3-1) in the championship game today at 4 p.m. The Cardinals beat previously unbeaten Santa Fe 25-16, 19-25, 20-25, 25-22, 15-8 to advance.

Gideon got to Friday’s match by surviving – not just beating – three-time defending state champion Advance 29-27, 25-22, 25-23 in the Quarterfinal round last week. On Friday, South Iron (26-9-1) had the Bulldogs on the ropes midway through the match before Gideon showed it has as much moxie as it does talent.

“My girls come out to fight,” veteran Bulldog coach Kristen Ashabranner said following the win. “They came out last week (against Advance) ready to fight.

“They knew what was at stake.”

In the opening game against the Panthers, the match was unfolding much like the one two months ago when Gideon swept South Iron 2-0, ironically, just a long serve from the Show Me Center at the Dig For Life Tournament at the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex.

Bulldog senior Katie Clenney was serving well, as Gideon took a 10-5 lead, which forced South Iron to call a timeout.

Senior Haley Stover then took over serving following a Panther point and took the Bulldogs to an 18-10 margin, which resulted in South Iron calling for another break.

None of those strategy sessions mattered as the Bulldogs cruised to a 1-0 lead.

It was seemingly business as usual for these girls.

Not quite.

The Panthers scored six of the first seven points in the second game, which forced Ashabranner to call a timeout.

Gideon got kills from Stover, who had a team-high 15 kills to go with her 15 digs, and another kill from Hope Raymond (six kills, 14 digs) to climb back to 9-7 before the Bulldogs tied the game at 12.

“We had to pull through,” Clenney said. “I know my team. I know how we play, and I knew that we were going to pull through.”

Gideon did “pull through,” eventually. But not in the second game.

The Panthers were covering every open spot on the court and built a 20-16 lead, which caused Gideon to call another timeout.

“I thought that we’ve got to finish with some high points,” Ashabranner said of the second game loss. We can go into the next (set), we still have three more sets if we need them, but we needed to finish with some high points.”

That didn’t happen, as South Iron won the second set, becoming the first team in nearly two months to even take a set against Gideon, and then showed no fear in battling Gideon hard through the third set.

The set was tied at 10, 11, 13, 14, and 16 following a kill by Clenney (14 kills, nine digs, two blocks). At that point, the Bulldogs took off on an 8-2 run, highlighted by kills from Faith Raymond, Stover (twice), and junior Kaylee Ashabranner (nine kills, 23 digs), as the Bulldogs led 24-18.

South Iron wasn’t willing to die. Yet.

The Panthers 24-23 and even a Gideon timeout didn’t slow the South Iron mojo.

Truth be told, nobody in the Bulldog Nation felt positive at that moment, as the Panthers were racing to take a what-would-be-shocking 2-1 lead.

“I wasn’t really nervous,” Coach Ashabranner said. “I have faith in these kids. I’ll put those six (players) out there against anybody.”

Ashabranner had her players attack the Panther setter, who was in the back row, because “it would be an out of system play,” for South Iron.

“We had watched video after video,” Ashabranner said. “My assistant coach (Cassy St. Cin) told the players to ‘put it right there, tap that ball over, and we’ll secure the win.’”

Ashabranner’s daughter, Kaylee, did just that, with one of the most important “taps” in Bulldog volleyball history.

Her hit just over the net and along the left line secured the set and a 2-1 lead for Gideon, and South iron was finished.

Gideon jumped all over South Iron in the fourth game by taking a 6-2 lead and was never really threatened.

“I told (the players) that it wasn’t going to be easy,” Coach Ashabranner said, “but it was going to be worth it. We fought with grit. We fought with heart. They gave everything that they had.”

Gideon senior setter Malerie Sharp passed out 42 assists in the win, while the 32nd victory set a new mark for Gideon under Ashabranner, who has led the program for 15 seasons.

Gideon will play for the state championship for the second time in program history. The Bulldogs fell 2-0 to Lockwood in the 2004 championship game.