Class 3, Districts 7, 8, 10

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We continue to our journey through class 3 with the three districts we'll highlight today. Some of these districts have one round under their belts and will continue with the semifinals tonight. Others will start tonight with their first matches. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">District 7 (listed in seed order) @ Fulton High</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Fulton, Centralia, Boonville, Hallsville, Mexico, Marshall</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The six-team districts feature a first-round bye for the top two seeds. Host Fulton is the top seed with a 19-7 record. Centralia will be the second seed and boasts a record of 18-8. They have played this year in late August with Fulton getting a 3-2 win. Mackenzie Wilson had 15 kills in that match, followed by 12 from [player_tooltip player_id='227069' first='Mariah' last='Reed']. On the other side, Centralia saw [player_tooltip player_id='485605' first='Ryenn' last='Gordon'] get 16 in her second varsity match. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The other four teams faced off on Tuesday. Boonville defeated Marshall behind the double-double performance from Addy Nichols with 13 kills and 21 digs. In the other match, Hallsville defeated Mexico in three. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For the semis, we will go with the top two teams advancing to an October 23rd showdown. We can only hope for as good a match as we had almost two months ago. We would just flip a coin but we will go with the home team here, Fulton getting it done. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">District 8 (listed in seed order) @ California</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Blair Oaks, Eldon, Southern Boone, Fatima, California, Osage</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This district gets going tonight with Southern Boone taking on Osage and Fatima/California being the other match to face Blair Oaks. California has Fatima's number beating them in two of the three matches, the other being a tournament tie. We like California to keep the streak alive with another win. Southern Boone and their 21 wins will be led by [player_tooltip player_id='493013' first='Taylor' last='Germann'] and her offensive skill set. They defeated Osage in September but the Indians returned the favor last week with a 2-1 win. Emma Faulconer had 12 kills in that match. This is a tough pick but Southern Boone gets the win.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blair Oaks and their championship swagger will open Saturday against the Fatima/California winner. The Falcons have 25 wins on the year. They have taken down both potential schools earlier in the year. [player_tooltip player_id='124226' first='Autumn' last='Bax'] is averaging close to 5 kills per set. We like Blair Oaks to get the win. Eldon hit the 20-win mark this year and will get the winner of Southern Boone and Osage. We anticipate Southern Boone and these teams have seen each other twice this year with both teams leaving the gym victorious. Eldon will rely on the setting duo of [player_tooltip player_id='236995' first='Audrey' last='Dinwiddie'] and Sydney Halderman to lead them to victory. Eldon has seemingly limped to the finish line with quite a few losses this month while Southern has been steady. We will go with Boone.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The finals: Blair Oaks has been there before with Bax, [player_tooltip player_id='234314' first='Libby' last='Juergensmeyer'], Baily Braun, and others playing in big games. They get it done and fight for a return trip to the final four.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>D<span style="text-decoration: underline">istrict 10 (listed in seed order) @ Rogersville</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Clever, Strafford, Logan-Rogersville, Buffalo, Bolivar, Aurora</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The four get going tonight with the host school taking on Aurora and Buffalo against Bolivar. Buffalo has been strong this year with 26 wins. They have an earlier season win over Bolivar and will hope to duplicate that in the upcoming contest. The Bison were led by [player_tooltip player_id='490119' first='Leah' last='White'] in that last match with 10 kills. In defeat, [player_tooltip player_id='493008' first='Megan' last='Howard'] was the match leader with 20. We like Buffalo to get the win.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Logan-Rogersville comes in losing three in a row. Two weeks back they faced Aurora in a five-set thriller that saw Aurora walk away with the win. Aurora's Kymaran Darnall and Rogersville's Oliva Chapman both had 19 kills. We expect another good match and will go with Aurora to get the win and upset on LR's court. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Top seed and 27 win Clever will play the winner of Buffalo/Bolivar on Saturday. Whatever team they face, it will be the first time they face them this year. [player_tooltip player_id='495308' first='Morgan' last='Bos'] is averaging close to 3 1/2 kills per set. We like Clever to get to the championship. Strafford has a convincing win this year over Aurora and we expect them to take care of business again. The last time they played each other, Mya Highfill and [player_tooltip player_id='245320' first='Elsie' last='Larsen'] had 12 kills each.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Championship: Before their loss in the last match out, Clever had won 8 of 9, with the one not win being a tie. They have the pieces in place to get the win and keep their season going. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->