Class 1 District 5 and 7 Previews!

District 5 Preview Lesterville Champions Lesterville is looking for their 5th straight district championship. You have South Iron looking to knock off the Bearcats but must get to the championship. Winona might have something to say about either one of these teams winning the district. Plus, a couple of other teams at any point could take this district. According to MaxPreps rankings, this district has 5 of the top 21 teams. Lesterville 4, South Iron 11, Winona 15, Viburnum 19, and Bunker 21. So we can take a look at the district seeds and see where they will end up come championship night. 1 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=341&alg=57">Lesterville High School</a> 20-10-2 2 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=448&alg=57">South Iron High School</a> 18-6-3 3 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=502&alg=57">Winona High School</a> 12-11-2 4 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=282&alg=57">Eminence High School</a> 6-14-2 5 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=452&alg=57">Ellington High School</a> 10-10-6 6 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=248&alg=57">Bunker High School</a> 19-8-3 7 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=486&alg=57">Viburnum High School</a> 10-3 Quarterfinals 5 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=452&alg=57">Ellington High School</a> 10-10-6 4 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=282&alg=57">Eminence High School</a> 6-14-2 Lesterville will have a bye into the semifinals and get to play either Eminence or Ellington. Lesterville is 2-0 against Ellington on the year. Eminence beat Ellington at home 25-20, 24-26, 25-22, 25-21, and I’m going to take Eminence in this one as well. So I will have Lesterville taking on Eminence in the semifinal. Lesterville and Eminence had a battle in the season finale for both teams, with the winner being Lesterville in a 3-0 sweep. 2 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=448&alg=57">South Iron High School</a> 18-6-3 7 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=486&alg=57">Viburnum High School</a> 10-3 #2 South Iron comes in with an 18-6-3 record and boasts a trio of talented hitters in sophomores Madison Ayers, with 215 kills, Drew Gayle 198 kills, and junior Megan Lashley with 145 kills. The Panthers will take on #7 seed Viburnum Bluejays 10-3. South Iron handled Viburnum easily earlier in the year 25-15, 25-14, 25-19. I look for South Iron to do so again in this meeting. 3 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=502&alg=57">Winona High School</a> 12-11-2 6 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=248&alg=57">Bunker High School</a> 19-8-3 #3 Winona 12-10-2 takes on #6 Bunker 19-8-3 in the last quarterfinal meeting. Winona took a 3-0 win over Bunker in the 3rd match of 25-11, 25-17, 25-23. Both teams have improved since that meeting, but I still see Winona pulling this one out. The difference between these two teams is the quality of the schedule. Winona gets beat up by some big schools. Common opponents Winona is 3-2 while Bunker is 2-3-1.   Semifinals 1 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=341&alg=57">Lesterville High School</a> 20-10-2 4 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=282&alg=57">Eminence High School</a> 6-14-2 Common opponents Lesterville is 7-1 and Eminence is 3-5-1 Statistically, Lesterville has [player_tooltip player_id="41797" first="Mallory" last="Polk"], with 500 kills and Reese Gray with 407 kills. Grace Hicks with 944 assists. Reese Gray 410 digs, [player_tooltip player_id="41797" first="Mallory" last="Polk"] 304 digs, Piper Fitzgerald 269, Grace Hicks 177, Alliya Myers 137. Eminence, unfortunately, doesn’t provide any statistics on Maxpreps. I am going to go with Lesterville in 4. Lesterville did sweep the season match 3-0. 2 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=448&alg=57">South Iron High School</a> 18-6-3 3 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=502&alg=57">Winona High School</a> 12-11-2 The last time these two met, it went five and with South Iron pulling out a 25-18, 23-25, 21-25, 25-21, 15-7 win and South Iron’s first win against Winona in recent history. Drew Gayle had 21 kills, Madison Ayers with 16, and Megan Lashley ended with 17. Nevaeh Malawey led Winona with 25 kills, Cloey Asplin ended with 11. When these two played earlier in the year, Winona ran a 6-2 with Malawey and Asplin setting. Since then, the 6-2 has switched and it’s Asplin and Autumn Fitzanko running the offense. Common opponents Winona is 3-3 while South Iron is 2-1-2. I’m going to go with Winona in 4 since the offense seems to be clicking better since the last meeting.   Finals 1 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=341&alg=57">Lesterville High School</a> 20-10-2 3 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=502&alg=57">Winona High School</a> 12-11-2 The finals will be a rematch of last year’s championship, where Lesterville came out on fire and won 2-0. Lesterville is looking to win its 5th straight district championship. These two just met a week ago, with Lesterville taking it in a 3-1 win 25-20, 25-21, 20-25, 25-18. Winona received 21 kills from Nevaeh Malawey, 12 from Cloey Asplin, nine from Taylor Osborne, and six from Bailee Luttrell. [player_tooltip player_id="41797" first="Mallory" last="Polk"] had 21 kills, Reese Gray with 24 kills, Piper Fitzgerald had 15 digs, and Grace Hicks with 36 assists. Winona has a more balanced attack with four players with 100+ kills on the season. Winona holds an overall record of 9-8-1 over Lesterville but 0-3 in the playoffs. I think this will come down to 5 with Lesterville pulling it out. The key to this match-up will be the role players. Lesterville will need someone besides the two outsides to do something out of the norm for them to hold off Winona for the third straight year in the district finals.     District 7 Preview New Covenant Academy Champions 1 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=533&alg=57">New Covenant Academy High School</a> 13-9 2 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=220&alg=57">Blue Eye High School</a> 13-9-1 3 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=215&alg=57">Billings High School</a> 14-10-3 4 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=298&alg=57">Galena High School</a> 13-8-1 5 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=256&alg=57">Chadwick High School</a> 10-7-1 6 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=324&alg=57">Hurley High School</a> 5-17-1 Quarterfinals 3 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=215&alg=57">Billings High School</a> 14-10-3 6 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=324&alg=57">Hurley High School</a> 5-20-1 These two met already, with Billings taking a 25-9, 25-19 win. Billings got a trio of juniors in Melanie Ryan, Bella Harter, and Emma Batema to combine for 20 kills in the match. Billings will win this 3-0. 4 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=298&alg=57">Galena High School</a> 13-8-1 5 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=256&alg=57">Chadwick High School</a> 10-7-1 The year’s final game was played between these two for a preview of the district match, with Galena winning in 3. I will take Galena in the rematch.   Semifinals 1 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=533&alg=57">New Covenant Academy High School</a> 15-9 4 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=298&alg=57">Galena High School</a> 13-8-1 NCA is kind of a secret to me with not much info about them on Maxpreps. NCA led by all-conference selections Macy Seevers, Jillian Ehlers, and Madie Seevers and has beaten Galena 25-12, 25-18, 17-25, 25-11. I’ll take NCA for a 3-0 win. 3 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=215&alg=57">Billings High School</a> 14-10-3 2 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=220&alg=57">Blue Eye High School</a> 13-9-1 Billings has gone to state the last two years but graduated the big guns from those teams, and Blue Eye won a district two years ago, then suffered a loss to Billings in the district final last year. They met already this year, with Blue Eye taking a 25-19, 19-25, 25-23, 25-21 win. Common opponents Billings stands 5-3-2 while Blue Eye is 4-4-1. Blue Eye features juniors Riley Arnold, Avery Arnold, and Kyla Warren. Billings always turns it on come districts, but this is a new crop for Billings. I’m going to take Blue Eye in 5.   Finals 1 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=533&alg=57">New Covenant Academy High School</a> 15-9 2 <a href="https://www.mshsaa.org/MySchool/Schedule.aspx?s=220&alg=57">Blue Eye High School</a> 13-9-1 The common opponents the teams do have they both have lost to them. NCA has given those teams better games than Blue Eye, so I’ll go with NCA for a 3-1 title win.