Class 5 Preview: District 7 and 8

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Postseason is here! Today we take a short preview of districts 7 and 8 in Missouri's top class.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>District 7</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lee's Sumit West, Truman, Raymore-Peculiar, St. Teresa's, Carthage, Lee's Summit North, Lee's Summit, Joplin, Neosho</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lee's Summit West is your top seed and comes in with an 18-10 record. With ten losses, understand this: There are no questions about losses on that schedule, considering the competition they took on this year on both sides of the state line. [player_tooltip player_id='493090' first='Kamryn' last='McDonald'] and [player_tooltip player_id='446328' first='Tori' last='Massengill'] have been a solid one-two punch. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Your second seed is Truman. They have been a surprise this season, but after seeing them play, I think they are a talented bunch. They have won the games they were supposed to win and knocked off some teams that drew my attention. [player_tooltip player_id='219786' first='Jayden' last='Herl'] and [player_tooltip player_id='729510' first='Andi' last='Gardner'] lead the offensive attack. Truman will have a tougher route but I expect them to get to the finals. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lee's Summit West should emerge from this district as the champion.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>District 8</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This should be exciting.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Park Hill South, Liberty, Liberty North, Park Hill, Staley, Central, North Kansas City, Oak Park, William Chrisman</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Park Hill South is atop the bracket after a season I expected from them this year with the nucleus they had returning. They should be in a semifinal match with rival Park Hill. They are 2-0 against them this season with an early season five-set dual, followed by a more recent sweep. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Liberty is the second seed and in Liberty fashion has been good this year. They are on a collision course for a matchup with their crosstown rival Liberty North. In their lone matchup, Liberty won in five. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's hard to pick these semi-final matchups regardless of who has the series lead on the year. However, I'm going to go with South and Liberty meeting up for what could be another classic battle this year. They have faced off twice, both being five-setters won by South. In the most recent contest, [player_tooltip player_id='219763' first='Peyton' last='Liming'] went for 29 kills for the victors while [player_tooltip player_id='153930' first='Abigail' last='Mullen'] delivered 23 for Liberty. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>They say it's hard to beat a team three times. I'm going to pick the two-seed here in Liberty. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->