Jackson rallies for win against St. Vincent

~ The Indians survived three straight match points and defeated St. Vincent in three games

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Trailing 24-21 in a decisive game three, Jackson High School senior Kylie Seyer looked at her coach and asked a bold question.

"Kylie look at me and asked if she should use her jump serve," Jackson volleyball coach Maile Gannon said. "I said you go after it. She had the confidence behind her."

Seyer then served two perfectly placed aces and another winner to tie the game.

Several rallies later, Seyer buried a kill for the game winner.

Jackson wound up recovering from a shaky start to knock off host St. Vincent 15-25, 25-17, 29-27 on Tuesday night in the season opener for both squads.

Thanks in large part to the clutch play of Seyer.

"I just really didn't want to lose," Seyer said. "We all came together to battle back hard in the end."

"She's a great all around player," Gannon said. "She provided us with a lot of emotion and intensity, and those aces really fired up the rest of the team."

The third game was wild.

Midway through the game the teams were tied at 13-13 after both traded runs.

But St. Vincent opened a commanding 23-16 advantage that clearly had Jackson's confidence down.

Down, but not beaten.

Jackson clawed back to 24-20 before Seyer took over serving.

After Jackson tied it at 24-24, St. Vincent had two more game points for the win but both were thwarted by Jackson.

After St. Vincent's Amanda Steinbecker had a tip to tie the game at 27-27, St. Vincent served long to set up Seyer for the game-winning kill.

"It surprised me," Gannon said of the comeback. "But we hung tough."

Said St. Vincent coach Pam Riney: "That server [Seyer] was tough. She wasn't going to miss. I don't really know what happened. We had the crowd on our side. We just didn't do our thing. We have to work on our serves."

St. Vincent came out firing in game one, using a 6-0 run early to open an 8-3 lead it would never relinquish.

St. Vincent added an 8-2 run later in the game to stretch its lead to 22-12 before winning.

"We had a horrible practice yesterday," Gannon said. "It kind of carried over. We didn't have energy, we were hesitant that first set."

St. Vincent was far from hesitant.

"We seemed ready to play," Riney said. "It was time for a game. We were relaxed and the girls seemed like they were having a good time playing."

All that quickly changed in the second game.

After St. Vincent cut Jackson's lead to 11-7 midway through the set, Jackson rattled off four straight points to take a 15-7 edge. Jackson cruised to the victory, setting up the back-and-forth third game.

"In game two we sat back and relaxed," Gannon said. "We played our game and communicated. We don't have that one big player so they all have to work hard together, and they do work hard. St. Vincent is always a tough match for us, they're a great team and it always feels good to take a win."

Jackson received strong performances from Seyer, Kelsey McDowell and Julia Weber.

Seyer had seven kills, three aces and 17 digs while McDowell added 22 assists. Weber tallied eight kills and three blocks.

St. Vincent was led by senior Chelsie Boxdorfer, who tallied seven kills.

St. Vincent also received a strong performance by Miranda Unterreiner. The sophomore saved numerous points with hustle plays.

"She came through in a big way tonight," Riney said. "She served well, hustled. You couldn't ask for anything more, she gave her everything."