WEBB CITY, Mo. — One Webb City family has plenty to be thankful for this holiday season, having recently watched their second daughter compete on the highest stage of their sport in November.
Webb City senior setter Savannah Crane helped her Cardinal volleyball team advance to the Class 4 tournament for the second time in school history.
Her play caught the eye of the Missouri State Volleyball Coaches Association, which recently named Crane and teammate Avery Gardener to its Class 4 all-state team. The selection marked Crane’s second time being named to the all-state team.
But Savannah Crane, the daughter of Stephen and Stephanie Crane, isn’t the only Crane to have graced the court at the state volleyball championships. Her older sister, Sophie Crane, helped the Cardinals advance to the state tournament in 2022 — the first time in school history — and was selected for the all-state squad three times in her high school career.
That 2022 squad was the first Class 4 team from Southwest Missouri since Joplin’s 1990 team to qualify for the final four.
Sophie Crane, now a student majoring in communications at Missouri Southern State University, was in attendance last month to watch as Savannah Crane carved out her own spot in Cardinal history.
Savannah Crane sat the bench as a freshman while Sophie Crane was a defensive specialist for the 2022 final four team.
“It’s pretty crazy, just knowing that my sister is here,” Sophie Crane said before the Cardinals third-place game last month in St. Joseph. “It’s nice because I’ve been in her shoes before, and I just love supporting her. I’m here to let her know that she’s got this.”
Sophie Crane also reflected on her own time at Webb City High School.
“We were just the starting point,” she said. “Hopefully, we gave these girls the courage to know they can go back to state because other people have done it before us.”
Sophie Crane also shared the advice she gave her sister before the final four.
“I just told her to enjoy the moment,” she said. “I feel like there’s a lot of pressure on someone (at state) and you don’t even realize everything going on around you. So sitting there, focusing with your team and knowing you made it this far, I just want her to take it all in as her last game ever. It’s something you will always remember, so you want to go out with positive memories from it.”
Savannah Crane talked about what it meant to share the experience of the state tournament with her sister.
“I can’t believe I’m a senior now and was a freshman sitting on the bench watching her. It’s so surreal,” Savannah Crane said. “Now, three years later, I’m playing at state.”
The oldest of the three Crane daughters, Sage, also was an integral part of the Cardinal volleyball program. She finished her senior year in 2021 ranked 14th in the state and No. 1 in Class 4 District 11 in digs (385).
Sage Crane’s senior season also marked the first of five straight district titles — spanning three Crane sisters — for the Webb City volleyball program.
The Crane legacy at Webb City runs deep. Stephanie Crane was an accomplished volleyball player at Webb City High School, and Stephen Crane was selected to the Webb City Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018. As a running back and defensive back for the Cardinals state championship teams in 1992 and 1993, he was a two-time all-state selection and an All-American honorable mention his senior season. An accomplished baseball player as well, he was inducted into the Missouri Southern Hall of Fame in 2009 for his contributions to the Lion baseball program.
“My wife and I have been so fortunate to be a part of this for the last seven or eight years,” Stephen Crane said last month is St. Joseph. “The oldest (Sage) started it, then the middle (Sophie) came along and now Savannah, so this is an awesome experience. It’s been a fun ride. They’ve been with some great teammates, coaches and players’ families.”
Stephanie said she is proud of what her daughters have contributed to the Webb City volleyball program.
“It’s fun to be a part of any team, but to have these type of honors come with it after all the hard work, I think makes the younger players excited about playing volleyball,” Stephanie Crane said. “We’ve always been kind of a softball-dominant school, and now kids are thinking, ‘Hey, maybe we could try this.’”
