2023 Review: St. Vincent VB seniors guide Indians back to success

Here is a series of stories that glance back at some of the interesting storylines from the 2023 sports year throughout Southeast Missouri.

The attention emanating through the halls of St. Vincent High School this autumn centered on the incredible success of the football program, which advanced to the MSHSAA Class 1 State Semifinal before falling to Marionville, and with good reason. However, the success on the gridiron didn’t diminish the fact that the Indians’ volleyball squad enjoyed its most successful season in six seasons.

“They overcame some things, here and there,” St. Vincent coach Darren Verseman said following the season. “Those things really made the senior class pull together and draw the rest of the team in with them.”

The Indians had to “overcome” a struggling stretch of seven matches in their mid-season, of which they won just twice. However, from that point forward, St. Vincent, led by a five-member senior class of Ella Clifton, Maddie Dobbelare, Ava Layton, Emersyn Pitts, and Addilyn Schnurbusch) rallied their teammates into closing the year with a very impressive 8-3 mark over its final 11 matches.

“They were really solid, as far as teammates go,” Verseman said.

Verseman returned to the St. Vincent sidelines three seasons ago after guiding the program a few years back, and he witnessed the growth of those five players and what it meant to the program.

“They are still the same (today) as they were,” Verseman said, “in that, they are competitive, and they are smart. They were a willing (group).

“They are just more mature. They got their chance to lead, and they sure did a good job.”

The Indians, who won the MSHSAA Class 1 District 4 title for the third consecutive season, finished the season with a 14-14-3 mark, which was the most victories that the program had achieved since winning 18 matches in 2017.

Through that late-season stretch of success, St. Vincent grabbed wins over successful programs including Meadow Heights (17 wins), Leopold (24 wins), and Oak Ridge (16 wins).

This season should propel the Indian program forward for a myriad of reasons, including the fact that Verseman has 22 of 27 athletes in the program coming back, including a talented group of 10 sophomores.

“We’ve got a really nice bunch of underclassmen,” Verseman said. “That sophomore class coming up, I am really looking forward to that (group) and seeing what happens.”