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The Dupo Lady Tigers Volleyball squad completed their season at home Wednesday night as they defeated the Christ Our Savior Lutheran Soldiers of Evansville in two games 25-22 and 25-14. The contest was bittersweet as Dupo fans said goodbye to five Seniors who will end their high school volleyball careers at the end of this season. The Lady Tigers started all five seniors Wednesday night; Kim Chappelear, Margaret Davenport, Taylor Johnson-Roy, Meagan Moore and Tina Schifferdecker along with sophomore Kaitlyn Donald. When asked about her senior players and their impact on the program Dupo Lady Tiger Coach Jill Puckett said, AI have had so many opposing coaches this year tell me how much we have improved. The changes in this group of seniors from their Freshman year to now is dramatic. Tina Schifferdecker is a great example, she has come a long way since her Freshman year. I just wish I had a video I could show people of the growth and change in this group of seniors. We=re going to miss the net play of Margaret, Kim and Taylor. We=ll also miss the leadership and pure hustle of Meagan Moore.@
Senior Margaret Davenport got the ceremonial start, coming off the floor after the first point due to an ankle injury she sustained the night before. As play began in the first game it became apparent that Davenport=s presence on the floor would be missed by the Lady Tigers. Davenport is second in the St louis area in blocks per game average and is the Lady Tigers strongest presence at the net. I asked Coach Puckett if she felt the recent losses of Margaret Davenport and Taylor Bauchman have affected her teams confidence. She responded, AI don=t think it has affected their confidence but I believe they have had trouble adjusting to their absence on the floor. When they don=t have that same person next to them on the floor all the time it changes them. So it=s taken us some time to fill Taylor=s spot and now we=ll have to adjust to Margaret=s absence if she=s unable to come back for Regionals.@
The Lady Tigers started well stretching out to a 6-1 lead aided by the strong serving of Kaitlyn Donald. But the Lady Soldiers fought back, aided by a number of Lady Tiger errors to get within 3 points at 12-9. The Lady Tigers put together another scoring stretch behind the serving of Taylor Johnson-Roy to lead 16-11 but once again mistakes plagued Dupo until the Lady Soldiers took the lead 19-18 and extended their lead 21-18. Dupo Coach Jill Puckett called a timeout to help her team regroup. The Lady Tigers then came out and outscored the Lady Soldiers 7-1 in the final moments of the game to win 25-22.
Dupo seemed to find their groove after that leading the entire second game aided by the excellent serving of seldom used senior Tina Schifferdecker. Schifferdecker served the Lady Tigers to an 8-0 lead early and finished the game serving the team=s final four points to help them win 25-14. Coach Puckett said, AWe started off really slow but they seemed to get it together in the second game. We obviously have a lot of work to do before the Regionals next week.@
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