Miller volleyball set to make third straight trip to Final Four

The year 2021 was historic in every sense of the word for the Miller Lady Cardinals with district championships on the basketball court, volleyball court and the softball diamond. However, volleyball’s return trip to the Final Four in Cape Girardeau where they won the state championship was the pinnacle. The Lady Cardinals will have an opportunity to defend their title after a clean postseason sweep through districts, culminating with a three-set win over Drexel, Saturday in quarterfinals.
Miller earned the top seed in their district, received a first round bye and took on Billings in the semifinal. The Lady Cardinals made easy work of the visiting Lady Wildcats as they defeated Billings in three sets 25-11, 25-10 and 25-10. The win would set up a district championship match up with another Lady Wildcats, this time from Greenfield. This offering would also provide little resistance as the championship machine hummed onto their fourth straight district championship in three sets 25-11, 25-8, 25-17.
Miller then got the privilege to host sectionals once again as a very good Galena team came to Cardinal country. The Lady Bears defense was phenomenal, but Miller senior Emberlynn Kingsley had her way, getting kills at will over Galena. Miller took the opening set 25-8. They followed up taking the second set 25-16 and the third 25-12 to advance to the quarterfinals in Drexel, Saturday.
Drexel came into Saturday 29-5 and seeking their first trip to the Final Four. The experienced Miller squad silenced a raucous home crowd early on, taking a 7-1 lead behind freshman Ashlynn Helton. Helton continued to be a force along with Kingsley as the Lady Cardinals extended their lead 17-10. The Lady Cardinals did have trouble finishing off the pesky Lady Bobcats as they would score six straight points down 24-14, but Miller ultimately took set one 25-20. The second set was very competitive as Drexel took a four-point lead on three separate occasions, but tremendous defense from the Lady Cardinals gave them a narrow 25-22 win. The third set was all Miller, as they had their way with Drexel. Miller downed the Lady Bobcats in three sets after a 25-13 win to secure a three-set sweep and a third straight trip to Cape Girardeau.
“Seeing the seniors in tears about had me in tears. It wasn’t pretty today for sure but they never gave up and really wanted to go to Cape and put their mark on Miller volleyball, and I think they have done that going three years in a row,” head coach Tamara Landers said following the win at Drexel.
Senior Libero Addison Stockton said the win was an important one for her.
“This means the world. We have gone to state the last two years so to me personally I just wanted to be able to say my career ended at state and not before then, and now I will have that opportunity.”
Senior Haylie Schnake said this year's trek is even more powerful.
“This is amazing. This one feels even better because we don’t have that older class to lean on and lead us," Schnake said. "People were saying that we were done after last year (after graduating six all-state selections) and there’s no way Miller is going back to state for a long time and we were like, 'Oh, no, that’s not it,' and well we are going back!”
Senior Lillie Ricketts said this was the plan all along.
“This is something we have worked for all season and it has been our goal since day one, and now we are one step closer to where we want to be and that’s state champions. It's kind of a HECK YEAH! moment for us. We like proving people wrong and say that we can win it all again.”

The defending state champs are going into their third straight Final Four with a massive chip on their shoulder and will face perhaps their toughest test of the season in Winona in the semifinal game.
The Lady Cardinals will take on the Lady Wildcats Friday at 4 p.m. at the Show-Me Center in Cape Girardeau. A win would put them in the state title game once again at noon on Friday against the winner of the Advance and Tarkio/Fairfax. A loss will pit the Lady Cardinals against the loser of the aforementioned opposite semifinal game on Saturday at 10 a.m.