Nevada volleyball falls at Webb City

WEBB CITY, Mo. -- The Nevada Lady Tigers finished their regular season in slightly disappointing fashion Thursday night as they dropped their final match to the Webb City Lady Cardinals by the final scores of 25-18 and 25-16.

"They are a very good team. By far the best team we have played," Lady Tigers head coach Becky Lowery said of Webb City. "We did our best to take it to them."

The opening set of the night got off to a very good start for both sides as they traded several points early, staying even up to a 7-7 tie. From that point on, the Lady Cardinals slowly began to pull away, scoring two to three points at a time until they eventually worked their way to a 25-18 victory.

The second and final set of the night was much the same in the beginning as the Lady Tigers held slim leads at 6-4 and 7-6 before Webb City was once again able to utilize a series of two- to three-point runs to pull away. That eventually paid off for the Lady Cardinals as they were ultimately able to earn a 25-16 victory.

"We played well tonight," Lowery said after the match. "We decided we were going to go out and make them play and we did. I was very proud of the way we played tonight."

Mariah Mock led the Lady Tigers with six kills and three blocks on the night while Allie Irwin added three assists and six digs.

The Lady Tigers JV had similar luck on the night as they fell in two sets by the final scores of 25-10 and 25-12. The Lady Tiger freshmen were the only ones to pick up a victory on the night as they needed an extra set to knock off Webb City in three by the final scores of 22-25, 25-19 and 25-22.

The Lady Tigers varsity ended the regular season with an overall record of 12-14 while the JV finished 14-8 and the freshmen went 15-4 on the year.

Despite the loss, the Lady Tigers varsity squad still came out of the match with their heads held high. "I think our performance against Webb City has given us a lot of confidence going into the district tournament next week," Lowery said. "We feel very confident that if we go out next week with the same attitude and determination we had tonight, we can be district champions."