Jackson season ends with two-game loss to Cor Jesu in volleyball sectional

KIRKWOOD, Mo. -- Playing on a sectional stage for the first time since 2002, and on Halloween no less, the Jackson Indians volleyball team appeared a bit spooked Saturday at Kirkwood High School.

The Indians saw their season end with a two-game loss to Cor Jesu as the Chargers rolled into the Class 4 quarterfinals with a 25-8, 25-15 victory.

Jackson ended its season with a 22-10 record.

"I think we were really nervous at the beginning because it was sectional, and Cor Jesu, we were watching them hit in warmup and they were hitting it pretty good. So we were a little bit nervous," Jackson senior hitter Jill Rushin said. "The first game you could definitely tell, but then the second game when we came out we were ahead for a pretty long time. That game we were just a lot more relaxed and having more fun with it."

After top-ranked St. Joseph Academy slipped past state-ranked Lafayette in a three-set thriller in the preceding sectional, Jackson took the stage with Cor Jesu, which competes in the same conference as St. Joseph.

Cor Jesu (28-6) came into the sectionals off a two-game district victory over Oakville, which defeated Jackson in two games earlier this season. The Chargers also had not dropped a game in their last five matches and had won 15 of their previous 16 matches.

Despite fielding five juniors in the starting lineup to Jackson's six seniors, Cor Jesu took command early. While the Chargers lacked seniors, they had three starters listed at 6 foot 1.

"They're all very tall, and it's kind of intimidating," Jackson senior Mary Ann Bradshaw said. "It was definitely a much larger block than what we're used to."

Jackson never led in the match as the Chargers scored the first three points and took a 7-2 lead on a series of misplays by the Indians.

Cor Jesu junior Margaret Riley put down the first of her match-high seven kills in the spurt, but the Chargers' opening run was built mainly off points from misplays by their opponent.

Jackson crept to within 8-5 when the Chargers misfired on a pair of spikes, but Cor Jesu rolled off the next five points as it outscored Jackson 17-3 over the remainder of the game.

Gannon called two timeouts, but it failed to break the momentum of the Chargers, who closed out the game with a 6-0 run, capped by an Elizabeth Nikodem kill.

The Indians had just two kills in the opening game.

"We definitely knew we were going to be the underdog," Jackson coach Maile Gannon said. "There are just things we had to do to play at the top of our game, and we were very hesitant and very nervous. We had nothing to lose is what I told them, and we came out very hesitant and second-guessed ourselves a lot instead of just being assertive and aggressive and just playing the game.

"I told them volleyball is volleyball, no matter who we're playing on the other side of the net.

"We were just so tight. We couldn't relax and play our game in Game 1. We were just worried about everything else that was going on that it really shut down almost our entire game plan."

The trend carried into the early part of the second game as a couple more Jackson errors helped Cor Jesu to a 4-1 lead.

However, Jackson answered with a 7-1 run, accented by a Taylor Glueck ace that put the Indians ahead 8-5.

Along with the lead, a few smiles also appeared on the Jackson side.

"We had the first-game jitters, always," Glueck said. "And the second game I thought we did a lot better. We came in a lot more relaxed, definitely."

After Nikodem gave the Chargers an 11-10 lead, Jackson's Bradshaw powered a spike off a block to tie the match at 11-11.

Cor Jesu then went ahead for good when Aubree Smith kill-blocked Rushin at the net for a 12-11 advantage.

Jackson trailed 14-13 after Rachael Meyr pushed a ball deep into the corner for a kill, but Cor Jesu scored the next four points and 11 of the next 13 to close out the match.

"Yeah, I wish we would have moved on," Glueck said, "but I'm not really disappointed. We got out of districts and we hadn't gotten out of districts since 2002. So I'm not disappointed at all. I'm happy how we ended up."

Cassandra Bollinger led the defense with 16 digs, Glueck had 13 and Rushin finished with nine. Junior outside hitter Lyndsey Hinklebein led the Indians with four kills.

"That was our main goal to win districts," Rushin said. "We left everything on the court.

"It's definitely a good experience for the juniors. Now they know what it's like. Hopefully they'll be back here doing it again."