Lady Tigers find success at middle of the net to trigger comeback win for District championship

Published 6:43 am Wednesday, October 28, 2026

REPUBLIC — Despite Bella Argo’s angelic appearance and teammate Blair Bough describing her by saying, “Bella’s the sweetest,” Argo most certainly exudes a killer instinct in competition.

“When I’m on the count, it’s game on,” the Ozark junior middle hitter succinctly said.

Argo had no mercy on her counterpart Tuesday, while being at the heart of the Lady Tigers’ comeback to take the Class 5 District 5 championship. Top-seeded Ozark spotted third-seeded Kickapoo a 2-0 lead, before prevailing 22‑25, 21‑25, 25-19, 25‑14, 15‑10.

The match turned around as the Lady Tigers exposed the Lady Chiefs’ defense at the middle of the net. Argo collected a season-high 10 kills, with the great majority of her kills occurring over the final three sets.

“Bella’s strong suit is running a ‘go,’” outside hitter Blair Bough said, referring to a fast, flat set to the left of the setter. “We know if we can run the ‘go,’ she can put the ball away. She can put the ball away against a tall setter, so we might as well (set her) against a short setter and she can hit the ball straight to the floor. It made a huge difference.”

“They had a short setter across the net, so I needed to attack that,” Argo said. ““I kept seeing an opening and knew to attack. What was working, keep doing it — keep attacking until they can stop it. My teammates gave me the confidence I needed to believe in myself, Everything I did was for them.”

When Argo went to the Ozark bench, Mykenzie McTaggert also had success converting on attacks at the middle of the net.

“We were aiming to go for the weaker blocker,” setter Lucy Roark said. “It was something we noticed, communicated and executed very well. Bella and ‘Myk’ played their hearts out and put the ball away. I’m so proud of them.”

Ozark led for all of the third and fourth sets. The Lady Tigers trailed early in the fifth set before pulling away.

Outside hitter Jilian Elet capped the comeback by netting a kill on four of Ozark’s final six points.

It was seemingly a very predictable comeback from a 2-0 deficit. There was an overwhelming feeling from an Ozark perspective that the Lady Tigers (29-6) would rally and win.

They swept the Lady Chiefs at Kickapoo two weeks ago and Ozark has won the programs’ last five meetings.

“We knew we were not going to lose, no matter what,” Bough said. “We said, ‘We’re not going to let them push us around anymore. We’re not backing down and we’re going to throw the first punch.’

We were kind of timid a little bit at first. Knowing what we can do and settling in helped us.”

“We had all this look on our faces,” Argo said. “We were going to win these next three sets. We were leaving it all on the court.”

“We were not playing to our potential,” Roark said. “We realized we had to go. We needed to be calm and collected and confident in ourselves.”

Ozark’s winning numbers included 19 kills and three blocks from Bough, 15 kills from Elet, 10 kills and four blocks from Argo and seven kills and 12 assists from Roark.

Bough and Argo also celebrated District titles for their former teammates at Strafford and Clever. The Lady Indians won the Class 3 District 10 title, while the Lady Jays took the Class 3 District 11 championship.

“I’m very proud of them and love to see them succeed, even without me,” Bough said.

“I’m so proud of them. I’m watching them from Hudl and am always cheering them on,” Argo said.

After winning 10 District championships from 2009-2018, Ozark now has a pair of District titles in three seasons.

Ozark advances to meet Lee’s Summit West (30-3) in Quarterfinal action Saturday.