VERDIGRIS — Emmyn Gibson quietly bided her time.
While Class 3A No. 15 Sequoyah raced away from Class 4A No. 14 Verdigris early Tuesday night, the junior outside hitter and reigning Claremore Progress All-County Most Valuable Player was content to work in the shadows.
Gibson dialed into her defensive game, digging up attacks while Bella Brown and Alice Michaels supplied much of the early offense at the Verdigris Activity Center.
She was lurking, though.
Waiting.
Gibson finally struck for her first kill to give the Lady Eagles a 14-3 advantage in the opening set, then receded into the background again as Brown, Michaels and Emerson Walke continued the onslaught.
With the Lady Eagles sitting three points from the set, Gibson decided she had waited long enough.
Three swings. Three kills. Set over.
Gibson's three-consecutive kills slammed the door on a 25-13 opening victory and set the tone for a dominant night as Sequoyah swept the Lady Cardinals 25-13, 25-12, 25-15.
“At the beginning, it was super slow because a lot of balls that were hit to me were really high because they were out of system, so I wasn’t able to get good contact on it,” Gibson said. “But after my defensive start — I think I started pretty well defensively — it carried the momentum for my hitting. And at the end of the first set, the long rally and the defensive finish off the fast-ball kill, that was pretty sweet.”
Gibson finished with 7 kills and 2 aces, but Brown was Sequoyah's most productive attacker with 8 kills, 3 aces and a block assist.
It was another twist in a young season during which Rogers County's top volleyball teams have seemingly decided to cannibalize one another.
Verdigris swept Inola. Inola swept Sequoyah. Sequoyah has now swept Verdigris after previously taking a set from Oologah. Meanwhile, Oologah has swept both Verdigris and Inola.
“What I told my kids, that was the team we’ve been expecting all year,” Sequoyah coach Zoe Kersey said. “When we were playing Inola, it was not our best game. We were not playing our game. I’m hoping we can bring that kind of team energy into every other conference game and beyond.”
Tuesday, however, belonged decisively to the Lady Eagles.
Brown opened the match with a kill, and Michaels followed with consecutive aces as Sequoyah quickly established control. Brown later supplied back-to-back aces during an early surge that pushed the advantage to 11-2.
The Lady Cardinals briefly showed life behind consecutive aces from Abbi Rairdon, trimming a 16-7 deficit to seven, but the Lady Eagles never allowed the rally to develop.
Brown and Michaels resumed the attack before Gibson took over with Sequoyah leading 22-13, hammering 3 kills to finish the set.
“My teammates helped me out the whole way,” Gibson said. “They all kind of alleviate the pressure off me so I don’t have to depend only on myself. It’s nice to be able to depend on others. And it’s good for our offense when the ball can be set to me, but we switch it up with a reverse set and boom — you don’t see it coming.”
The second set required far less offense from the Lady Eagles.
Verdigris briefly grabbed a 3-2 advantage behind a kill, block and ace from Emerson Wawrzonek, but its own mistakes soon became overwhelming.
The Lady Cardinals committed 17 errors in the set, including a stretch in which Sequoyah scored four-consecutive points without recording a kill to turn the early deficit into a 6-3 advantage.
Gibson recorded only 1 kill in the second, but she did not have many opportunities to do more. Verdigris repeatedly ended rallies itself, including another stretch of four-consecutive errors as the Lady Eagles pulled away for a 25-12 victory.
Brown capitalized when opportunities did arise, recording 3 kills and combining with Walke for a block. She closed the set with a kill.
The Lady Cardinals finished with 39 errors in all through the three sets, including 10 in the first set and 12 in the third. Sequoyah committed only 19 errors total.
“Up until tonight, we had almost 800 attacks or swings, and our kills were about 30%, but we also had 10-15% that were errors,” Verdigris coach Caleb Horton said. “It was just a lot of mistakes. We’ve struggled the past few games. We knew that tonight would be tough, but I don't know if the thought was, ‘It’s Sequoyah, they’re not going to be that tough, we’re going to be able to take them,’ and it just didn’t happen.”
Verdigris made its strongest push in the third.
Kaydence O'Brien opened with a block and later added a kill as the Lady Cardinals jumped ahead 3-1. Addi McMahan then began to find success, recording 3 kills during a stretch that eventually pulled Verdigris even at 7-all.
That was as close as it got.
Michaels' kill put Sequoyah back in front, and Gibson followed by taking over from the service line. She sandwiched consecutive aces around a Verdigris error during an 8-0 Lady Eagles run that transformed the tie into a 15-7 advantage.
Gibson later delivered her final kill for match point before Haydon Charles' ace completed the sweep, 25-15.
McMahan was the Lady Cardinals' most consistent offensive threat with 7 kills and an ace, including 4 kills in the final set. O'Brien added 2 kills and a block, while Tynleigh Davis had 2 kills and an ace.
Sequoyah received contributions throughout its lineup. Michaels finished with 3 kills and 2 aces, while Walke had a kill, 2 aces and 2 block assists. Avery Conger added 2 kills and 2 block assists, and Lexi Dunfee contributed a kill, a solo block and a block assist.
“We’ve been trying to be much more well-rounded,” Kersey said. “Bella had a great game, our middles had a great game and everybody was doing their job.”
The teams will meet again at 2 p.m. Friday in the Oologah Tournament.
Horton and the Lady Cardinals are hoping for a better performance this time around. According to IWasAtTheGame.com, Verdigris is 15-4 against Sequoyah since 2013.
“I expect us to turn around and play a little harder and do a little better,” Horton said. “We’ll see if this group’s got some heart … At the end of the day, we’ve got to start putting a group in here that’s going to start winning.”
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