Scott City volleyball team refuses to join list of upsets

Danielle Gibbons (4) and Brooke Simpson (10) block for the Rams as St. Vincent's Megan Sutterer hits Saturday, October 31, 2009, in Piedmont. (Kit Doyle) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

PIEDMONT, Mo. -- Scott City setter Jordan McFall's mouth was wide open, her eyes big as if the shock was setting in for the first time.

"Oh. My. God. Our faces we're all, 'Ahh,'" she said, dropping her jaw. "It was crazy."

McFall wasn't talking about either or her team's victories Saturday at Clearwater High School. She wasn't talking about a return to the final four or anything else related to the Rams' play.

She was talking about Eminence. The team that spent the entire season ranked No. 1 in the state in Class 1. The team that played Scott City close, according to teammate Katie Hogan. The team that lost in its district final to No. 3 seed Winona, a team Scott City had breezed by.

It was a crazy result to McFall and her teammates and a reminder that their own No. 1 state ranking in Class 2 was no ticket to a state title.

The Scott City Rams celebrate their quarterfinal win over St. Vincent on Saturday in Piedmont, Mo. (Kit Doyle) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

"When they said Eminence got beat, we were just like we've got to come out, you know, because anything can happen," said Scott City coach Haley Jennings, who called this the year of the upset in high school volleyball. "Any team can be beaten on any given day."

Jennings said her team could look at its own 32-2-1 record for another lesson.

"We found that out this year," she said. "We were beat twice. Yeah, we probably shouldn't have lost, but you know it happens and that's learning experience so it's good that they know that we're not unbeatable and that we have to still work hard."

Senior Brooke Simpson was the player who first pointed out Eminence's loss to McFall.

"That was a big upset," Simpson said. "We played Eminence and Winona and we were actually all really shocked that they got beat. Anything can happen in volleyball and momentum can change in a matter of seconds. Every point counts."

On Saturday, Scott City was determined not be the next No. 1 to fall.

"We knew that we weren't guaranteed to go back to the final four," Simpson said. "We knew we had to come out here, work and do all of our jobs."