Leopold fails to close door, will play for third

~ WilDcats lose late lead, fall short of Class 1 championship game.

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Leopold senior Desiree Arnzen was not making any excuses after the Wildcats served for game point four times against Osceola, but came away empty each time in the Class 1 round-robin semifinals.

Ahead 24-20, Leopold ended up losing 26-24.

That loss proved to be extremely costly for the Wildcats. It denied them a chance to play for the state championship today. Instead, Leopold will again face Osceola in the 10:30 a.m. third-place match.

"It was definitely a disappointment because there's no reason they should have come back that much without us getting one point," Arnzen said. "If we got the pass, we just couldn't put the ball down. The blockers just knew where we were going to go. They just knew, and we couldn't put it down."

Leopold's Cassie Seiler set a ball during Friday's Class 1 state tournament pool play in Warrensburg, Mo. (MSHSAA/Columbia photo)

In the semifinals, each of the four teams played one another twice, and the two schools with the best records in their six games earned berths in the championship match. If two or more teams tied for the best record, then head-to-head competition was used to determine a winner.

At day's end, Leopold finished with a 3-3 record. The Wildcats split all three matches: 14-25, 25-22 with Sacred Heart; 24-26, 25-18 with Osceola; and 25-18, 23-25 with last year's Class 1 champion, Winona.

If the Wildcats would have won the final game against Osceola, which went 1-5 in round-robin play, they would have pulled into a first-place tie for the best record with both Sacred Heart and Winona. Both finished 4-2.

Another thing that's used to determine who plays in the championship game is point-differential. Even with its 3-3 record, the Wildcats had a better point differential than the team that earned the second seed, Winona. So if Leopold had won the game, it would have played for the championship.

"It's been a very up and down day," Leopold coach Sandy Davis said when asked about the loss to Osceola. "Don't take anything away from these girls. They're playing, and now they know.

Leopold senior Cassie Seiler set a ball during Friday's Class 1 pool play at the state tournament in Warrensburg.

"If we could have closed that up, and we had the chance with Osceola. But things happen. But I'm not going to down them and say they're not playing good because they are. I'm proud of them. They're doing good."

Davis said her team was nervous when it began its first match against Sacred Heart and played like it. She said as the day progressed, the team played the way it is accustomed to, especially against Winona in the final match. The Wildcats featured better passing, setting and hitting. The Wildcats have focused largely on hard hitting and effective placement of shots in the playoffs.

"We weren't in our ballgame," Davis said. "Their passing, their hitting -- we were definitely not playing our ballgame. We weren't passing and we weren't aggressive on our hitting."

Davis later added: "If we had played like we did against Winona all day long, we wouldn't be in this type of situation."

Maddy Hutchings finished the day with a team-high 23 kills. Casey Bucher had 19 and Cassi Jansen added 15. Cassie Seiler chipped in with 68 assists and Chelsey Stoverink led the defense with 24 digs.

Hutchings, who has a broken rib and was feeling ill this week, did not have a reason why the offense struggled to start the day. But she did say practice was difficult the week prior to the state tournament because others were also ill. She said Thursday was the first time that everyone practiced together.

Hutchings said the team will regroup for the consolation match. The Wildcats will need to stop Osceola 5-foot-11 middle hitter Brooke Jurgensmeyer, who had 27 kills Friday, eight against Leopold. She is also a force on defense, with 26 digs in the three matches.

"Everybody wants to play in the championship, but playing for third, we'll go out there and do what we need to do and see where it takes us," Hutchings said. "We're going to loosen up."

Davis said the only thing her team needs to do different today is play relaxed.

Arnzen, who said her team was overwhelmed at first, is confident her team will take the consolation match seriously.

"We know we can beat everybody here because we split with every single one of them, so we know it's possible," she said. "We won't be scared. We'll be ready."