Former libero plays tall for St. Vincent

~ Besand turns into powerful outside hitter for Indians despite her size.

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- St. Vincent junior Courtney Besand certainly is not the biggest girl on the volleyball court at just 5 foot 6.

Her small stature makes her appear to be an obvious choice to play the libero position.

Instead she's an outside hitter.

Size is no concern for Besand. That's because she makes up for it with her vertical jump.

"I went to Southeast and did a jumping program and my vertical increased," she said. "It's 19 now."

Besand started her freshman year occasionally rotating in at libero for Sara Moll. But during the offseason she worked on her jumping and returned her sophomore year as an outside hitter, winning the starting position.

Her play combines her old skills as libero and her new skills as a hitter as she focuses on defense and offense. And she was second on the team with 24 digs and fifth in kills with eight Friday, helping the Indians to a 5-1 record and a berth in the Class 2 championship match against Stockton today at noon.

Besand had an especially strong second match against Pierce City. She led the Indians with 13 digs and tied for second on the team with four kills.

"You just kind of learn to do both and try to do them the best you can," she said. "Your defense is most important and then you worry about your offense."

St. Vincent coach Mindy House said Besand has great ability as an outside hitter.

"Her vertical is [good] and she just rips the ball," House said. "The way she twists her body, she can hit a lot of line shots. She's in the right position and she adjusts to just about any set.

"She really is an all-around athlete. She's very good at digging angles and she also stays on her line. But you also have to take into consideration that whenever you have a libero like Sara Moll, the girls communicate so great back there."

Moll also added that Besand has versatility and works on defense as well as offense.

"She does a good job for us up in the front row," Moll said. "She normally puts it down for us and she gets up there and blocks. Back row, she steps it up a lot."

Many St. Vincent players, like Besand, had strong rounds on both offense and defense. The Indians place emphasis on working on defensive drills to set up the offense.

Lacey Siegmund had 11 kills, 23 digs and 22 assists. Brooke Brown chipped in with 14 kills and 20 digs and Sarah DeWilde had 15 kills and 13 digs.

The championship match

The Indians will play Stockton in the Class 2 championship match today. They swept the Tigers in the round-robin semifinal 28-26, 25-16.

The Indians fell behind in the first game and had to make adjustments to come from behind to win.

"Stockton tips a lot," Besand said. "We've got to watch for that. That's what kind of killed us in the beginning, but then we started covering and picking them up, so that's what we've got to work with for them."

Stockton, which won its next four games after getting swept by St. Vincent, is led by Karissa Hassell, who totaled 30 kills and 36 digs, and Ivy Smithson, who had 13 kills and 19 digs Friday.

House emphasized the importance of defense.

"We need to make sure we cover our digs," she said.

Siegmund added: "As long as we move our feet and stay low, we should be good. I'm just looking forward to a good game -- that we play good defense, good offense and we move our feet. If we do that, I think Stockton will have their hands full."

Besand was confident entering Friday, and she is confident entering today's big match.

"I was expecting to go to the championship because I knew we could do it, and we've always wanted to," Besand said. "So those were my expectations, and my expectations are to win first."