Day 2 Final Four Results
What a long day but I watched some amazing games and athletes today. I’ll get to Class 1 and 2 on a later date but this article will focus on the championship matches in Class 3, 4, and 5. Class…
Access all of Prep Dig
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingWhat a long day but I watched some amazing games and athletes today. I’ll get to Class 1 and 2 on a later date but this article will focus on the championship matches in Class 3, 4, and 5.
Class 3
What a championship match this was for Class 3. Two-time defending champion Blair Oaks was in for a dog fight today with Ursuline Academy. Ursuline kicked the Falcons in the mouth the first two sets and took a lead 2-0 with 25-19, 25-20 wins. The Falcons came to play in the 3rd set needing a win to stay alive for a three-peat. Autumn Bax put her team on her back and pushed the team to take the next two 25-22 and 25-18. This set the stage for a slugfest in the 5th. Blair Oaks came out on fire and took the early lead and never let up. They would finish off Ursuline in the 5th 15-8 to win its third straight Class 3 championship.
Class 4
Class 4 would pit last year’s Class 4 runner-up Incarnate Word Academy and St. Pius X (Festus). Heavy weights with several D1 commits on the court turned into a fantastic game. This match had the ball bouncing, huge blocks, and downright tough volleyball being played on both sides. When push came to shove it was Tara Greenberry and her 17 kills on .382 and her 5 blocks guided the Red Knights to the title with a 25-15, 25-23, 25-20 win. After losing in the championship match last year Incarnate won their first state championship since 2005 and 12th title overall.
Class 5
An all-Saint Louis final put Francis Howell up against the daunting task of knocking off the defending Class 5 champions Lafayette. This was a match both teams could be proud of being a part of. Both teams have tremendously talented players all over the court. Lafayette would sweep Howell 25-22, 25-18, and 25-16 to give a back-to-back title and eight overall. Lafayette has now won the state championship in eight of the last twelve years. 2027 Shaye Witherspoon came up big in the win finishing with seven kills on .467 hitting.
Class 2
This was the first day of action for Classes 1 and 2. In the first semifinal, Fair Grove came in and took care of business against Arcadia Valley 25-16, 25-14, and 25-10 moving them into the school’s championship match in school history.
In the other semifinal match pitted the storied program from Hermann against a tough team from Bishop LeBlond. LeBlond came out and wasn’t intimated by the Bearcats and took the first set 25-18. This woke up the Bearcats and they came out with vengeance taking a 25-8 win. Set 3 was back and forth the whole time and LeBlond pulled out the 29-27 win. Set 4 was another back-and-forth affair and Hermann got the match even at 2 apiece with a 25-23 win. The 5th set belonged to Hermann as they would take a 15-8 win pushing them into the title match for the 22nd time and looking to claim its state record 16th state championship.
Class 1
In the first semifinal of Class 1 defending champion Advance thump Galena. The stars were too bright for Galena as they fell to the Hornets 25-13, 25-14, and 25-16. Advance Hornets will look for its 5th title in the last six years.
After dropping the first set to Northwest 25-16, the Panthers took early leads to pull out the win 25-20, 25-19, and 25-21. This will be South Irons’s first appearance in the championship. The last time Advance and South Iron met they ended with a split.