FARMINGTON IS FINALLY A BRIDE IN SEMO CLASSIC

Before Friday night, the Farmington Knightettes were the Buffalo Bills of the SEMO Specialties and Sports Volleyball Classic.

Farmington had climbed to the final game three times since 1993, but there was always an obstacle in its way -- Bernie.

Farmington finally overcame the state volleyball power -- in the semifinals -- and went on to win the 30-team volleyball tournament in three sets over Rosati Kain out of St. Louis 12-15, 15-6 and 15-7..

"I felt like a bridesmaid because we had taken second place so many times to Bernie," said Farmington coach Carma Franklin. "That was something special to beat Bernie in the semifinal. Their middle hitter was just awesome and she really shut down one of our key hitters. I thought they had the mental edge over us, because we hadn't beaten them yet."

This was just the second time since 1992 that Bernie didn't make the finals.

Locally, a young Jackson squad was the only team left standing when the semifinal games were being played. In fact of the 30 teams overall, only two area teams -- Jackson and Leopold -- made it past the first round of bracket play.

The Lady Indians dropped to Rosati Kain 15-5, 11-15 and 15-5.

Although Jackson coach Nancy Ellis was proud of where her team ended up, she was more excited about where it could be going.

"We lost a lot of people from last year and I thought just the general jelling of our team improved a lot," said Ellis. "We're young, so this was a positive sign coming out in the top four among 30 teams. We have two freshmen and a sophomore out on the floor and I see better things in the future. I'm proud of my girls and the way that they played, but I told them this wasn't the best we could play; we can get better."

Jackson won its pool play and picked up a 15-5, 15-5 win over Zalma in its first game in bracket play. It then edged another Bollinger County team, Leopold, 15-10, 13-15 and 15-8 in the quarterfinal.

"I thought we progressively got better throughout the tournament," Ellis said. "Overall, I thought we did an OK job. We got tired here in the end and I would've liked to see us go one step farther. But overall, it was a good day."

Farmington, meanwhile, won its game over Bernie in controversial fashion. There were some disputed out calls in the game, but Farmington prevailed 2-15, 15-10 and 15-9.

Farmington was down one set in both the semifinal and final rounds.