Lafayette battles past Kickapoo for seventh state championship but first since

The Lancers, who split the first two sets against Kickapoo in the Class 5 championship match Friday, had an important task to complete before getting down to the business on the court.

With Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” playing over the sound system in Southeast Missouri State University’s Show Me Center, the entire Lancers team broke out into a choregraphed dance routine.

“After every second set, it’s a little ‘Cotton Eyed Joe’ shuffle,” senior Anna Kraemer said. “It’s a tradition.”

Added senior Madi Hartman, “It just helps us get hyped up and moving on and just know that we’re going to come right back in this.”

Lafayette responded with a dominant third set and went on for a 25-19, 24-26, 25-10, 25-17 victory. It is the seventh state championship for the Lancers and first since 2016.

“We want to be focused, but we play better when we’re a little bit looser as well,” Lafayette coach Zach Young said. “We’ve got seven good seniors who are just great kids. And they’re all very different, but they all really came together to lead, and you’ve got a couple spearheading that.”

Maya Witherspoon and Allison Risley each had 17 kills and Kraemer put down 12 for Lafayette (32-6), No. 1 in the STLhighschoolsports.com large school rankings. Alyssa Nelson had 55 assists and 21 digs.

Isabella Faria had 11 kills and Kya Johnson recorded 33 digs for Kickapoo (31-9).

Lafayette…