FAIRFIELD —Make it 10 straight for Versailles High School volleyball. The Lady Tigers are District champions after sweeping East Clinton High School on Oct. 29 at Fairfield High School in the Southwest Division III Volleyball Tournament.

Head Coach Liz McNeilan credited the culture Versailles has been able to build during their stretch of District championships. They have been District champions 22 times in the last 23 years.

“Today, we had some girls who came out and didn’t have their best games that they played. But it builds up over the game and you saw them come together, saw the extra high fives,” McNeilan said. “You create a culture when you do things like that. You want to win and you want to have each other’s back. You want to drive everyone in the right direction to get those championships.”

It was another collection of slow starts for Versailles to start each set. East Clinton would come out and compete point-for-point with the Lady Tigers.

Versailles would eventually find their footing on offense and start to separate themselves from East Clinton.

“You got to let them figure it out. You got to let them see the tempo of the game, steady the game, get comfortable and then do your thing,” McNeilan said.

In the first set, the offense and the serving were starting to gain an advantage on the scoreboard for Versailles. But, East Clinton hung around. They were able to find ways to score and keep it close. The Lady Tigers eventually shut the door on the Lady Astros and won the first set, 25-21.

Versailles was more dominant in the middle of the second set. The offense and defense limited East Clinton. McNeilan said it’s hard to get wins without the back line doing their thing. They were fighting to keep the ball up for the offense to do their thing.

“We have a lot of hitters that can hit with that speed and tempo that’s hard to adjust to. If you’re not ready for that second ball, that ball is going to drop,” McNeilan said.

Versailles took the second set, 25-11.

In the third set, it was the same thing. East Clinton came out swinging early, but the Lady Tigers took control of the set later on. The serving game gave the Lady Astros fits and Versailles took advantage. They won the set, 25-15, and moved on in the playoffs.

Versailles will take on Cardington-Lincoln in the Regional Semifinals on Nov. 3. at Fairmont High School. Game is set for a 6 p.m. start.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]