State Volleyball Championship Day 1

Class 5 St. Dominic vs. Cor Jesu Academy The match started like you want the final four to start. Cor Jesu would take the lead in set 1 and hold St. Dominic to win the 25-22. Both teams would show early-stage jitters, with both teams hitting below .200 for set 1. 2nd set wouldn’t start the same for the Chargers as they raced out to take the early lead and hit .393 in the set. St. Dominic still had the jitters and would hit -.037 in the set and go down quickly 25-13. Set 3 was more of the same for the Chargers as they moved to play for their first state title since 2002 with a 25-17 win.   Lee’s Summit West vs. Rock Bridge Here’s the match-up I was excited for with two teams I hadn’t picked to make the final four. I watched Rock Bridge earlier in the year at the Borgia Tri and came out impressed. West beat the defending state champions, and what little film I watched knew they had a dominant outside hitter. Set one was close throughout, with [player_tooltip player_id="41813" first="Sydney" last="Handel"] taking big swings on the outside for West, and [player_tooltip player_id="119220" first="Lily" last="Dudley"] was doing the same for the Bruins. The Titans would pull away late to take set 1 25-20 on .258 hitting, and Rock Bridge would only muster five kills and hit .111. The Bruins would come out in set 2, ready to battle and double their kill output, but only hit .200 and took the loss 25-19. The 3rd set was much better offensively for both teams as West would hit .317 and Rock Bridge would hit .333. With much better play by both teams in the 3rd, West pulled out a 28-26 win in a 3-0 sweep. Lee’s Summit West will play for the title against Cor Jesu tomorrow, a team that the Titans beat in 2007 for the state title.   3rd Place St. Dominic vs. Rock Bridge The 3rd place match went St. Dominic as they pulled out a 25 ‑ 22, 20 ‑ 25, 23 ‑ 25, 25 ‑ 21, 15 – 10 win to take 3rd Place. St. Dominic finished 4th in Class 5 last year.     Class 4 Pembroke Hill vs. Logan-Rogersville On paper, Pembroke Hill has the height on Rogersville, but Rogersville had the defense and enough offense to take a 25-20, 25-20, 25-11 sweep. Pembroke Hill would outhit Rogersville in the but defense won the battle. Brianna Linehan and Natalie Scott took care of the back row while [player_tooltip player_id="123463" first="Zoe" last="Reel"] would shine on the front for the Wildcats. Sophomore Gretel Robins led the Raiders attack with ten kills, and [player_tooltip player_id="123463" first="Zoe" last="Reel"] put down 14 for Rogersville.   Westminster vs. Nerinx Hall The 2nd semifinal featured two Saint Louis private schools in the Markers of Nerinx Hall and the Wildcats of Westminster Christian. The first set was back and forth with great defensive plays on both sides. Westminster seemed a little slow to start but made a game of set 1 as Nerinx Hall squeaked out the 28-26 win. Both teams relied on defensive efforts in set 2 as both teams hit below .100, and Westminster closed out set 2 with a 25-23 win. Offensively the teams were still hitting below .100 as the 3rd set started. 3rd set was back and forth with both teams still struggling to get much going offensively, and even though they would hit -.025, Westminster would come up with big plays defensively to take the 3rd 25-22. Nerinx Hall would need to take the 4th to push it to 5, but another poor hitting performance would cause Nerinx Hall to take a 20-25 loss and push them into playing for 3rd Place. Westminster did just enough to get the win with 13 blocks and 52 digs. Nerinx Hall would out dig and block Westminster but end the end, and it was just enough offense from Westminster. If Westminster wants to win the title against Rogersville, they will have to hit better than the .101 against Nerinx.   3rd Place Pembroke Hill vs. Nerinx Hall Hitting would again plague the Markers as they never hit over .200 for the tournament, and Pembroke Hill would get 14 kills from 6’3 middle [player_tooltip player_id="119183" first="Sarah" last="Lattan"]. Pembroke Hill picked up its offensive output and would hit over .250 in the last two sets to take a 3-0 sweep 25-20, 25-21,25-17. Pembroke Hill finished in 3rd Place with their first trip to the final four, and Nerinx Hall would take 4th for the 2nd consecutive year.     Class 3 Notre Dame de Sion vs. Strafford The records for these two are not flashy, but the competition they play has a lot to do with it. These programs are not afraid to schedule up, and that’s why both are here. Prepare in season for a final four-run. Again, it was the offensive output that would do in the Storm from Sion. Only once did they hit over 100 in the 2nd set that they won, but the other three sets were below .050. Sion just ran out of gas against the more physical team from Strafford. Middle Christa Duffel would guide Strafford to the 3-1 win 25-21, 21-25, 25-14, 25-10.   Valle Catholic vs. Blair Oaks Newbie vs. the veteran club was the highlight of this match-up. Valle was looking to play for the title a second year in a row, but this year in Class 3. The Falcons from Blair Oaks did not look scared of the bright lights and took off for the first set win 25-16. With sharp hitting from sophomore lefty right-side [player_tooltip player_id="124226" first="Autumn" last="Bax"] Blair Oaks cruised to a one-set lead. Veteran Valle Catholic would not stay down long enough and battled too early leads up by three at 22-19. Blair Oaks would get stingy defense from [player_tooltip player_id="151249" first="Payton" last="Mitchell"], and Blair Oaks would storm back for a 26-24 set 2 win. Set 3, the offenses started to click better for both teams as they would hit over .220, and Valle got some timely hitting from middle Hailey Weibrecht to take a 26-24 win. Valle would need to take set 4 if it wanted the chance to play for the title again this year. Blair Oaks came out smoking hot, hit .409, and cruised to a 25-10 3-1 win.   3rd Place Valle Catholic vs. Notre Dame de Sion I’ll update tomorrow after they finish playing tonight.