Cubs top Leopold for state berth

~ Bell City won the quarterfinal round 25-6, 20-25, 25-13 to book its third trip to final four.

Three seemed to be the magic number for the Bell City volleyball team Saturday at the Class 1 sectional tournament at Advance.

The Cubs used a pair of three-set victories to qualify for their third state final four appearance. Bell City knocked off Leopold 25-6, 20-25, 25-13 in the quarterfinal match to book its ticket to Warrensburg, Mo., for the state final four.

Bell City will begin round-robin play at 10 a.m. on Friday on the campus of Central Missouri State University. Both of Bell City's previous trips to the state final four have resulted in state championships.

After cruising to victories in the opening game of each match on Saturday, Bell City coach Erin Hoffman said it was a stressful but gratifying day.

"I thought a lot of it had to do with us being so young, not having played in this pressure before," Hoffman said. "A few of the older girls helped keep the pressure away."

Bell City (29-5-1) has just two players left from the squad which won the Class 1 state title in 2003. Andreia Wondel is the lone senior in Bell City's lineup, and junior Megan Slagley is the other player left from that 2003 squad.

Wondel said she knew it was important to provide leadership Saturday.

"I was just asked to step up, and hopefully I did," she said. "We're just so young, I'm glad we're going. It was supposed to be everyone's rebuilding year, but apparently we stepped it up more than everyone else."

In the quarterfinal match -- this was the third straight year Bell City made the quarterfinal round, where it lost to Gideon last year -- Bell City looked like it could do no wrong in the opening game. Leopold scored the first point for a 1-0 lead, then Bell City tallied eight straight points and quickly took control of the game.

The closest Leopold (23-6) came was 10-4, as Bell City just put down nearly every set. Wondel and sophomore Jenny Lathum did much of the damage in the 25-6 opening game win for Bell City.

"We played really well that first game," Hoffman said. "I was shocked because our warm-up was so bad."

Just like in their sectional match earlier Saturday -- a 25-14, 23-25, 25-18 win over Viburnum -- Bell City could not seem to sustain its early momentum. Leopold jumped to a quick 7-2 lead in the second game and withstood several Bell City comebacks to hold on.

Bell City led as late as 19-18 before the Wildcats finally put the game away. A service error tied the score at 19-19, and a hitting error followed to give Leopold a 20-19 lead. A kill from Cassi Jansen gave Leopold some breathing room at 22-20, and freshman Casey Bucher put the game away with a kill.

Through the first 25 points of the third game, neither team led by more than three points. Bell City maintained the lead from 4-3 on, but it was not until opening a 15-11 gap that the Cubs appeared to be heading toward the win.

Leopold called a timeout to try to settle things down, but the Cubs continued to charge on. Bell City scored five of the next six points to force another Wildcats timeout, and finished off Leopold by scoring five of the last six points.

"I just told them that everything was OK, just stay focused and take it one point at a time," Hoffman said. "At 24 [points], I saw a few girls smile."

Wondel tied for the lead in kills in the match with 10. Rachel Spears added eight kills, and freshman setter Codie Lancaster had 38 assists.

"I was just excited, and the team as a whole was intense," Wondel said.

Lathum also finished with 10 kills and 12 blocks for the Cubs.

"She wanted it bad," Hoffman said. "She's been telling me a long time she wanted to go to state."

Bucher led the Wildcats with seven kills and added seven digs. Cassi Jansen had six kills, Cassie Seiler had 23 assists and 10 digs and Desiree Arnzen had eight digs.

New Haven, Santa Fe and Winona will join Bell City in the state final four. Winona and Santa Fe finished third and fourth at last year's state final four, respectively.

Hoffman said bringing such a young group to the final four it will be important for the few veteran players to keep the younger players focused and relaxed.

"Just to be able to take it all in and not get overwhelmed, keep a level head," Hoffman said.

Before ending their season with a loss to Bell City for the second straight season, Leopold knocked off last year's Class 1 runner-up Gideon in two sets in the sectional round. Leopold won 25-20, 25-19.