JACKSON HAMMERS MEADOW HEIGHTS

JACKSON -- The St. Louis Cardinals have Mark McGwire and Fernando Tatis. The Seattle Mariners have Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez.

The Jackson Lady Indians boast two phenomenal sluggers of their own in Andrea Koeper and Jennifer Mesey. But they do their pounding not with 34-inch sticks, but with their bare hands.

Koeper provided 13 kills and Mesey slammed 12 as Jackson's volleyball team defeated Meadow Heights 15-3, 15-10 Thursday night.

The Lady Indians, arguably the best volleyball team in Southeast Missouri this year, improved to 15-1-1. Meadow Heights -- which split two sets with Jackson in the SEMO Volleyball Classic earlier this season -- dropped to 7-3-4.

"We played 100 percent better than we did Tuesday night," said Jackson coach Nancy Ellis, referring to her team's 15-12, 15-13 win over Sikeston. "We played a real good match. Tuesday night we had a lot of lapses and we were playing afraid and intimidated. Tonight we played to win instead of not to lose. We had a lot more confidence tonight."

Jackson swept through the first set, not allowing the Lady Panthers to score more than one point at a time. The Lady Indians were well on their way to doing the same in the second set, taking a 13-2 lead.

But Meadow Heights was resilient and managed a spurt where they ran off five straight points to make the score 13-7.

After Jackson scored its 14th point, the Lady Panthers scored three times, but that run was cut short on a controversial out call.

"Meadow Heights is a scrappy team," Ellis said. "They play real well."

As scrappy as Meadow Heights was, it couldn't handle the constant hammering from Koeper, a junior, and Mesey, who is just a freshman.

Koeper, in addition to her kills, had 10 digs, five blocks and two aces. Mesey, whose sister Lisa was a volleyball standout at Woodland a few years ago, added seven digs and two blocks.

"I think Jennifer had an exceptional hitting game tonight," Ellis said. "She's starting to hit in front of her head instead of getting underneath the ball. She's working hard.

"But it takes a team effort -- the pass and the set have to be there for anyone to look good."

Speaking of which, setter Casey Randol dished out 13 assists and Sarah Biri added 11.

Though it was apparent Jackson had more talent than Meadow Heights, the Lady Panthers have a lot of potential.

Thursday night, Meadow Heights coach Erin Hoffman started four sophomores.

"I'm not really disappointed (with the effort)," Hoffman said. "We're a very young team. None of my players have ever played varsity before and this is a whole new experience for them. One night they're on and play great and the next night they're off. It's just part of being inexperienced.

"We're a lot better team than I thought we'd be, considering none of them had played varsity before."

Jackson's junior varsity defeated Meadow Heights in three sets.