Hot VB squads Bell City, Gideon on C1D2 championship collision course

It absolutely is NOT an impossible task for the Gideon High School volleyball squad to get past Bell City in the championship match of the MSHSAA Class 1 District 2 Tournament.

The Bulldogs (21-8-1) are the top seed in the tournament, AND they are playing on the home court. However, the No. 2-seed Cubs (22-9-2) have already beat Gideon 3-0 earlier this month, and over the past month-plus, Bell City has proven almost impossible to beat.

The two teams will square-off tonight at 6:30 p.m.

“I think that we are at that point,” second-year Cub coach Lori Meyer said of her team reaching its potential.

The nine losses that Meyer’s team has endured this season is very misleading, as was the 4-6-1 start. Fans (and the media) should focus more on the fact that Bell City has only lost two of its last 16 matches, and those defeats were to Class 3 programs in Dexter and Logan-Rogersville, two teams who have a combined 32 wins this season.

“We upped our schedule this year,” Meyer said. “We knew that our win-loss record wouldn’t look as pretty as it did the year before (when the Cubs were 27-4-1).

“But it would improve our play.”

The Cubs have not won a District title in 14 seasons while Gideon is playing to win its third such title in the past four seasons.

A big reason for Bell City’s success in the second half of this season is the fact that senior Maddie Asher is healthy now.

Asher was playing middle hitter early in the season and “hyperextended her knee,” according to Meyer in the second match of the fall.

She not only missed “two or three weeks,” but Meyer also moved her to outside hitter to alleviate how often that she would have to move left and right.

“She has done fabulous out there,” Meyer said.

Meyer moved freshman Mollie Mannon to the middle hitter spot, and the young, lanky athlete responded.

“She has played well,” Meyer said of Mannon.

As hot as Bell City is coming into tonight’s match, Gideon has not been struggling.

The Bulldogs have won 15 of their past 17 matches, with their only defeats coming against Bell City and Bootheel-power Clarkton (28-6-1).

“(The girls) have worked hard to get to this point,” Meyer said.

Gideon advanced to today’s championship match after beating No. 5-seed Bernie 3-1 on Saturday.

The Cubs moved on after knocking off the defending champion Reindeer 3-1 on Saturday.