Farmington Seniors Reverse Volleyball Fortunes

TRIO LEAD PROGRAM TO FIRST STATE TOURNAMENT BERTH

Farmington seniors Kayla Crisp, from left, Kelsie Stewart and Michaela Larabee will lead the Lady Cardinals in the Class 4A State Volleyball Tournament, which starts today in Harrison.
Farmington seniors Kayla Crisp, from left, Kelsie Stewart and Michaela Larabee will lead the Lady Cardinals in the Class 4A State Volleyball Tournament, which starts today in Harrison.

— Farmington senior Kala Crisp was determined to not let the trend continue this season.

For Crisp and the rest of her Lady Cardinal teammates, it didn’t matter how many practice hours they had to spend in the gym to make themselves a better volleyball team; they were simply going to do whatever it took to achieve their goals this season.

And that’s exactly what Farmington has done.

For the first time in the program’s five-year history, the Lady Cardinals (18-6) are in the Class 4A State Volleyball Tournament, which begins today in Harrison. Farmington will play its first-round match at noon against Booneville.

“I knew being a senior this year, we had to get this done, we had to make it to the state tournament,” said Crisp, who’s a setter. “

Farmington volleyball coach Jessica McCollough said her team, especially her three seniors, worked constantly this season to make this goal come true.

The Lady Cardinals, who finished second in the 4A Northwest Conference behind Shiloh Christian, were led by seniors Crisp, outside hitter Kelsie Stewart and libero Michaela Larabee.

“It’s a great feeling to see where we were at one point two or three years ago to where we’re at now,” McCollough said. “This program has come a long way, and a lot of that is attributed to our seniors and the way they led us this season.”

Besides the seniors, McCollough said juniors Lexie Lewis and Breanna Jones also contributed in a big way. Lewis leads the team with about 10 kills per match and Jones leads the team in blocks.

“For as long as I’ve played, volleyball hasn’t been really relevant to anyone at our school,” Stewart said. “People haven’t really given us a chance, but this season, that all changed. We became a better team and people started supporting us.”

McCollough said her team was able to make the state tournament by playing effective defense, passing the ball without mistakes and getting good shots.

The Lady Cardinals also improved their serves this season and were able to get kills by setting up Lewis from the right side of the net.

“We don’t want to just make the state tournament,” Larabee said. “We want to make sure we win as many games as possible now that we’re here. We accomplished one goal, so there’s no reason why we can’t go up there and accomplish one more of winning a state championship.”

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