Class 1 Districts 5-8 Preview

<p>Here’s the most interesting district that would send teams to the sectional rounds against each other.  District 5 and 6 teams seem to all play each other at some point in the year.  Lesterville has beaten everyone except South Iron, and then South Iron has beaten everyone except Winona, who should win district 6 to advance to the Sectionals.  The team that wins the district 5 and 6 sectional should have a solid chance of winning the quarterfinal matchup with the district 7 and 8 winners.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>District 5</strong></p> <ol> <li>South Iron 20-8-1</li> <li>Lesterville 21-7-4</li> <li>Ellington 24-7-3</li> <li>Bunker 20-10-1</li> <li>Bismarck 8-10-2</li> <li>Viburnum 3-15-1</li> <li>Valley 4-19-3</li> </ol> <p>This district will be brutal to win. Any of the top four in this district could win it. You have Lesterville, who finished 2nd in the state last year, South Iron, who beat Lesterville 3-1, Ellington, who beat South Iron once this year, Bunker, who took Lesterville to 5. Last night Lesterville steamrolled Valley and Ellington did the same to Viburnum.  Lesterville and Ellington will meet for the third time this year in the semifinals. It will be a toss-up on who will make the finals and win it all.</p> <p><strong>Winner: South Iron</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Players</strong></p> <p>Maddie Ayers (2023) | South Iron 310 kills and 381 digs</p> <p>Drew Gayle (2023) | South Iron 285 kills and 482 assists</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="123465" first="Reese" last="Gray"] (2023) | Lesterville 538 kills and 400 digs</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="152153" first="Grace" last="Hicks"] (2023) | Lesterville 775 assists</p> <p>Piper Fitzgerald (2023) | Lesterville 329 digs and 262 kills</p> <p>Kaitlyn Belk (2023) | Bunker 353 kills and 288 digs</p> <p>Kailey Belk (2022) | Bunker 254 kills and 238 digs</p> <p>Callie Sutton (2025) Bunker 678 assists</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>District 6</strong></p> <ol> <li>Winona 25-9</li> <li>Summersville 7-15-1</li> <li>Cabool 11-16-2</li> <li>Plato 6-13-2</li> <li>Eminence 4-18-1</li> <li>Couch 1-12</li> <li>Koshkonong 1-12</li> </ol> <p>This district appears to be all Winona’s at this point in the season.  With wins over everyone besides Summersville and Winona, the best player didn’t play in that match.  Look for Winona to be on fire and ready to steamroll this district.  After losing to Lesterville the last three years, Winona is poised to win this year.</p> <p><strong>Winner: Winona will beat Cabool for the 4^th time</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Players</strong></p> <p>Naveah Malawey (2023) | Winona 392 kills</p> <p>Taylor Osborne (2023) | Winona 213 kills</p> <p>Cloey Asplin (2022) | Winona 785 assists</p> <p>Hailey Shannon (2022) | Cabool 277 kills</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="119215" first="Alexis" last="Hunter"] (2022) | Cabool 187 Kills</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>District 7</strong></p> <ol> <li>Blue Eye 16-6-2</li> <li>Galena 21-7-2</li> <li>Chadwick 7-16-2</li> <li>School of the Ozarks 10-15-4</li> <li>Fordland 7-13</li> <li>Bradleyville 3-14</li> </ol> <p>This district will come down to Blue Eye and Galena.  Blue Eye didn’t have much trouble with Galena in a 3-0 win in the previous meeting.  School of the Ozarks defeated Fordland and Chadwick beat Bradleyville last night.  Blue Eye takes on School of the Ozarks, and Galena takes on Chadwick.</p> <p>Blue Eye handled School of the Ozarks quickly in the previous meeting with a 3-0 win.  Galena also beat Chadwick previously, but the scores were close in a 3-0 win.</p> <p><strong>Winner: Blue Eye</strong></p> <p><strong>Top Players</strong></p> <p>Riley Arnold (2022) | Blue Eye 180 kills</p> <p>Avery Arnold (2022) | Blue Eye 470 assists</p> <p>Kyla Warren (2022) | Blue Eye 139 kills</p> <p>Kaesha Walter (2024) | Galena 219 kills and 126 blocks</p> <p>Sierra Ledford (2022) | Galena 107 kills, 235 assists, 242 digs</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>District 8</strong></p> <ol> <li>Wheaton 21-3</li> <li>Hurley 11-12-1</li> <li>Billings 5-12-3</li> <li>Crane 4-21-1</li> <li>Verona 5-20-4</li> <li>Exeter 4-18-2</li> <li>Purdy 2-22-1</li> </ol> <p>Another district where finding info on the teams is almost impossible.  After finding head-to-head matches, it appears Wheaton is top in this district with relatively easy wins over a couple of the other teams.  Already an upset in this district, Verona knocked out Crane 3-1 to advance to play Wheaton.</p> <p>Wheaton already put the hammer to Verona in a 3-0 sweep and should repeat this in the semifinals.</p> <p><strong>Winner: Wheaton</strong></p>