CAPE CENTRAL NETTERS FALL AT SECTIONAL

The Lady Tigers won their opening dual match over Ladue by default, but fell to three-time defending state champion St. Joseph's Academy in Class 4A sectional tennis play Saturday on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

"They've won state the last three years and everybody says they'll do it again," said Cape Central coach Annette Slattery. "St. Joseph's has a very strong team."

Central fell in straight sets in all five of its singles matches against the Angels. Central reached the final with a default victory over Ladue, which didn't bring its team to Cape for the sectional. St. Joseph's beat Rockwood Summit in its semifinal.

Central still has two doubles teams advancing to state competition Friday in Springfield. The No. 1 team of Lisa Ahstrom and Summer Chaudhari and No. 2 tandem of Laura Golike and Rachelle Thomas qualified for state during district competition.

Saturday's results

Julie Siemers def. Lisa Ahstrom (C) 6-1, 6-0

Katarina Stastny def. Laura Golike (C) 6-0, 6-0

Caroline Kramer def. Summer Shaudhari (C) 6-0, 6-0

Maggie Nasziger def. Rachelle Thomas (C) 6-0, 6-2

Kim Aldridge def. Julie Lessmann (C) 6-2, 6-2

CROSS COUNTRY

Perryville boys at Park Hills

PARK HILLS -- Perryville's boys won the 18-team North County Invitational by a single point Saturday in high school cross country action.

Perryville won with a 71-point total, nipping both DeSoto and Potosi by a point.

Kelly's boys finished sixth with a 142 total while Advance placed eighth with 257.

Two Hawk runners placed among the top 20 medalists in the 3.1-mile race. Michael Riley took 12th (17:28) and Nathan King finished 19th (17:54). Rounding out the Hawks' team score were Russ Mothershead (28th, 18:19), Chad Felter (40th, 18:53) and Lucas Choate (43rd, 19:02).

DeSoto won the girls' race with 21 points, finishing well ahead of runner-up Festus (99) and third-place Kelly (101). Perryville placed fifth with 136.

Kelly's girls featured three medalists -- Amy Arteme (20:32) took third, April Cousins (22:02) finished 15th and Laura Ruff (22:02) was right behind in 16th. Completing Kelly's top five finishers were Melissa Garner (30th, 23:11) and Megan Nelson (37th, 23:38).

"We've really come on with the girls and I attribute that to running against Jackson and Central and some of those tougher schools," said Kelly coach Bill Davis. "I'm really pleased."

Kelly boasted the top finisher in the boys JV race as Jobi Berry completed the course in 18:23. Kelly finished just three points out of first, placing third with 59 points. Ben Klipfel (5th, 19:01), Richard Reeves (7th, 19:10) and C.O. Sheffer (18th, 19:40) also medaled for the Hawks. Bandit Thorne (28th, 20:05) completed the team score.

Kelly will now have a two-week layoff before competing in the Class 1A-2A, District 1 meet in St. Louis on Nov. 1.

VOLLEYBALL

Meadow Heights Invitational

PATTON -- Bell City beat Leopold 15-7, 15-9 to claim the Meadow Heights Volleyball Invitational Saturday night.

Bell City, last year's Class 1A state champion, improved to 24-1-1. Leopold fell to 19-3-1.

The host Lady Panthers beat Zalma 15-9, 12-15, 15-3 for third place and Notre Dame won the consolation title with a 15-5, 15-2 victory over Oak Ridge.

Members of the all-tournament team for Notre Dame -- Jessica Hency, Jennifer Glueck; Meadow Heights -- Rachel Yount, Michelle Cook, Lindsey Davis; Bell City -- Laura Spears, Leslie Lee; Zalma -- Vicky Pixley; Leopold -- Alicia Halter, Sarah Gowen.

SOCCER

Cape Central 1

Rolla 1

FENTON -- The Cape Central Tigers retained the Optimists Cup against Rolla Saturday, rallying in the second half to tie Rolla at the St. Louis Soccer Park.

The tie brings Central's record to 8-12-1.

The Tigers rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to knot the score on a Nathan Gibbar goal from Jason Wicks in the second half.

Central's JV beat Rolla 1-0 on a goal by Mick Metzger in the first two minutes of the game. Matt Kennard assisted on the goal.

The Tigers' JV record stands at 5-6-3 entering the six-team Central JV Tournament, which starts Monday. The JV Tigers open the tourney, which concludes Thursday, against Carbondale (Ill.) at Shawnee Soccer Park.

Notre Dame 2

Rolla 0

FENTON -- Notre Dame scored twice before the first half and goalie Colin Vandergraaf made those goals stand up for a shutout victory at St. Louis Soccer Park.

Jason Garner scored 10 minutes into the contest on an assist from Jonathan LeGrand. Zach Miller scored with about three minutes left in the half off a pass from Oliver Sanders.

Notre Dame improved to 14-2-3 overall. The Bulldog JV tied Rolla 0-0.

Jackson 2

Francis Howell Central 0

ST. CHARLES -- Jackson improved to 11-3-6 with a shutout victory against Francis Howell Central.

Nathan Windeknecht scored first on an assist from Chris Schuette to put the Indians up 1-0 in the first half. Ben Turner scored in the second half off a pass from Spencer Knowlan.

Jackson has a week off before playing its final regular-season contest at Farmington Oct. 28