VOLLEYBALL: Doyle’s rainbow serve sets tone as Claremore cruises past Tahlequah

Addison Doyle’s serve had the arc of a rainbow. As the ball climbed high above the court Tuesday night at the Doug K. Mosier Athletic Complex and began careening back toward the floor, its trajectory appeared slightly off target. Doyle’s expression as it left her hand and floated through the air suggested even she thought it would be difficult for such a serve to result in a point. Well, actually it was super easy, barely an inconvenience. Tahlequah’s Brooklyn Anderson misread the descending ball and attempted a diving dig, only to send it directly into the net. Point Claremore. Doyle dropped to her knees in a combination of disbelief and joy as the Class 5A No. 2 Lady Zebras extended their early lead to five. Claremore wasn’t done making plays like that, though. Far from it, in fact. It was simply one of those nights for the Lady Zebras, when nearly everything looked that easy and barely inconvenienced as they rolled to a 25-9, 25-9, 25-14 sweep of the Lady Tigers. “I just feel like with how our team connections are with our bonding, we are just a really good, well-connected team,” Doyle said. “It really showed out on the court. When our serve, serve receive, hitting and setting all come together, it’s like puzzle pieces.” Doyle's unusual ace was merely the beginning of a dominant performance from the service line. Claremore [17-2] finished with 20 aces, accounting for more than a quarter of its 75 points. Doyle and Madison Godding led the way with 5 apiece, while the Lady Zebras earned 49 of their 75 points themselves [65.3%] rather than relying on Tahlequah errors. Doyle was particularly effective. The senior matched the Lady Tigers' entire earned-scoring output by herself with 13 points on 8 kills and 5 aces. “We do six-minute serving [at practice], so shortstops, cross line, over-and-in,” Doyle said. “We do a lot of serving during practice, and it really showed.” Of the Lady Tigers' 32 points across three sets, only 13 came from earned points. Claremore errors accounted for the other 19. That disparity became apparent almost immediately. Grace Baughman opened the match with an ace before Doyle began taking over. Her rainbow serve gave Claremore a 7-2 advantage, and she followed it with another 2 aces during a stretch in which the Lady Zebras raced ahead 11-2. Doyle finished the opening set with 3 aces and 2 kills, while Ava Tanner recorded 3 kills. Bella Hoisington added 2 kills, Madison Berger contributed a kill and a block and Audrey Shaw did the same. Claremore never allowed Tahlequah back into the set. Tanner supplied consecutive kills during another surge, Avery Davis delivered an ace to reach set point and Shaw's block finished off the 25-9 victory. The second set brought more of the same. The Lady Tigers [2-10] committed errors on each of the first three points before Maise Stagner-Speer served an ace for a 4-0 lead. Emme Baker later delivered back-to-back aces as the Lady Zebras stretched the margin to 8-2. Doyle took over again later in the set, mixing 3 kills with 2 aces. Baker added 2 kills and combined with Tayvn Smith for a block, while Shaw finished the set with consecutive kills to produce another identical 25-9 result. “Tayvn has done a great job all year,” Claremore coach Derek Jackson said of Smith, who finished with 2 kills, 2 aces and a block assist on the night. “She had to sit out a little bit out of the gate, but now she’s done well at working on the things we want her to work on and being efficient. She’s done a nice job of being efficient and not trying to do too much.” However, Tahlequah finally found some early momentum in the third with a chunk of the Claremore starters on the bench. The Lady Tigers jumped ahead 4-0 and still led 5-2 before Godding went to the service line. Then the deficit disappeared almost instantly. Godding served an ace before Doyle's kill pulled Claremore within one. Godding then ripped off 3-consecutive aces, giving her 4 during a 6-0 Lady Zebras run that turned a 5-2 deficit into an 8-5 advantage. Claremore never trailed again. “Some people are focused on the next point, and sometimes we’re focused on the next game, but in this moment, we were just focused on next year,” Jackson said of resting most of his starters to start the third. “How can we get a lot of young kids in as starters and have to work ourselves out of a hole and carry the weight and not just get up big and come in with no pressure? That was just an opportunity to keep building the program for future success. It’s not an ideal situation to get down, but it’s a great opportunity to learn and grow.” Doyle added another 2 kills as the Lady Zebras pulled away, while Macy Holland contributed 2 kills and consecutive aces and Smith added an ace and a kill. Ivorie Baker added a block before delivering a fitting conclusion to a night dominated by Claremore's serving. With the Lady Zebras sitting on 19 aces and match point, Baker stepped behind the service line. The sophomore who wears No. 20 promptly delivered Claremore's 20th ace. The dominant performance provided an ideal response for Claremore after suffering its second loss of the season last Thursday, when Class 6A No. 14 Booker T. Washington defeated the Lady Zebras in four sets on their home court. Five days later, Claremore made sure there would be no repeat. “I think it shows some maturity,” Jackson said. “We see it, all sorts of teams do it. We don’t stay disciplined, we don’t stay focused, we don’t keep working on things. But we did tonight. That’s a good sign for a mature, older team like we have. “That’s a pretty bright spot for us, and we want to keep building on that.”