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The Huddle
The Columbus Lady Cardinals have been eliminated from the State Championship playoffs by the hands of the Gunter Tigers effectively ending their season.
But they were the top team in 3A for a reason, so let’s take a look back at this team and talk about the 2023 Columbus Lady Cardinals.
First things first, Congratulations to the Lady Cards on a truly impressive season. Despite the trash talk opposing fans may throw their way, the Lady Cards have so much depth and without it, they would not have made it that far in the playoffs.
Ally Tribe is a focal point of this team for good reason, it is actually the same reason she is committed to play volleyball at the division one level. She is a really good player who can essentially do it all on the court.
But without players like Taylor Morrow, Ashlyn Carter, Claire Klausmeyer, Ember Mandola, Sage Thomas, Sophia Wolters and Caylie Neisner this team would not have reached the heights they did. They are not just a team they are best friends with unconditional trust in one another.
When you have a group like that paired with the talent that just oozes from this team you have a very formidable opponent.
How formidable were the Lady Cards exactly though? Well, in this humble reporter’s opinion the State Championship game was played in the semi-finals.
The Lady Cardinals played the Gunter Tigers who are the defending State Champions and the narrative around the Lady Cards was they cannot get past three sets in the semi-finals.
They completely blocked that out walked on the court stared the defending champs in the face and said, “Come on. We are right here.” The Lady Cards did not back down from any challenge placed in front of them and were so formidable this season they forced Gunter to five sets and almost beat them.
That’s why I say that game was the real State Championship game in that tournament. No disrespect to the team that met Gunter in the finals, but you would be hard pressed to find a team that can push Gunter to those limits like the Lady Cards did because they were inches away from knocking off Gunter.
So, the season did not end with them lifting the State Championship like I am sure many of us expected, but this team should never hang their hand because they went down swinging like every great team does.
