High school roundup: Notre Dame earns top seed in SEMO Conference tourney

The Notre Dame volleyball team produced a 7-1 record in Tuesday's pool play to secure the top seed in Thursday's bracket of the inaugural SEMO Conference Tournament.

The tournament began with round-robin pool play consisting of five teams in two pools. The SEMO North Division consisted of host Cape Central, Jackson, Notre Dame, Poplar Bluff and Sikeston, while the SEMO South Division consisted of Charleston, Kennett, host New Madrid County Central, Oran and Scott City.

Notre Dame opened with a 23-25, 25-10 split of Jackson, then rolled over the host Tigers 25-11, 25-16 before crushing Sikeston 25-1, 25-21 and topping Poplar Bluff 25-9, 25-17.

Notre Dame senior Abbie McAlister accumulated 61 kills to lead the Bulldogs in pool play. McAlister also broke the school record for single-season kills of 407 set by Ashley Nenninger during the 2006-2007 season. McAlister's current total stands at 408.

"It was pretty exciting," Notre Dame coach Tara Stroup said.

Sam Feeney dished out 88 assists and Lexi Welter notched 35 digs for Notre Dame, which improved its record to 27-3-2. Marianna Below served 40 service points, including 15 against Sikeston and 10 against Cape Central.

Jackson (16-9-1) drew the second seed in the SEMO North pool after splitting with both Notre and Poplar Bluff and sweeping Sikeston and Cape Central. Poplar Bluff (18-12-2) placed third following straight-set victories over Sikeston and Cape Central. The host Tigers split with the Bulldogs 23-25, 25-16 as both teams posted 1-7 records in pool play. Cape Central (3-22-5) drew the fourth seed by winning the point differential by seven points in its match with Sikeston (13-18-1).

In the SEMO South Division, host New Madrid County Central finished with a 6-2 record to draw the top seed. The Eagles flew to straight-set victories over Charleston and Kennett and split sets with Scott City and Oran. The Rams were drew the second seed in the pool following a sweep of Kennett and splits with Charleston and Oran to post a 5-3 record. Kennett and Oran tied with 4-4 records, which forced a head-to-head decision, which the Indians won (25-19, 26-24).

Bracket play begins Thursday at Cape Central with Oran/Sikeston and Cape Central/Charleston squaring off at 4 p.m. in the play-in games. The Oran/Sikeston winner will advance to face Notre Dame at 5 p.m., while New Madrid County Central will await to face the winner of Cape Central and Charleston at 5 p.m.. Scott City will play Poplar Bluff, and Jackson will take on Kennett in the other quarterfinals at 6 p.m. The semifinals are set for 7 p.m., followed by the championship at 8 p.m.

SEMO North Division

Cape Central split Sikeston 23-25, 25-16

Notre Dame split Jackson 23-25, 25-10

Poplar Bluff def. Sikeston 25-19, 25-23

Notre Dame def. Cape Central 25-11, 25-16

Poplar Bluff split Jackson 21-25, 25-18

Notre Dame def. Sikeston 25-1, 25-21

Jackson def. Cape Central 2-0

Notre Dame def. Poplar Bluff 25-9, 25-17

Poplar Bluff def. Cape Central 25-22, 25-17

Jackson def. Sikeston 25-14, 25-14

SEMO South Division

Scott City split Charleston 25-13, 26-27

New Madrid County Central def. Kennett 25-21, 25-15

Oran split Scott City 25-13, 16-25

New Madrid County Central def. Charleston 25-14, 25-19

Kennett def. Oran 25-19, 26-24

New Madrid County Central split Scott City 25-18, 26-27

Kennett def. Charleston 25-16, 25-14

Oran split New Madrid County Central 23-25, 25-12

Oran def. Charleston 25-9, 25-14

Scott City def. Kennett 25-13, 25-19

Oak Ridge 18 25 25, St. Paul Lutheran 25 22 15

The Blue Jays rallied after dropping the first set to the host Giants to come away with the win on the road in Farmington, Missouri.

Oak Ridge improved to 5-19, while St. Paul Lutheran fell to 4-12.

No additional information was provided.

BOYS SOCCER

North County 6, Saxony Lutheran 0

The Crusaders were unable to net a single goal in the road loss to the Raiders.

North County upped its record to 12-5 while Saxony Lutheran dropped to 8-13.

No additional information was provided.

-- From staff reports