Leopold sneaks past Zalma in volleyball thriller

LEOPOLD, Mo. -- The first time Leopold senior Abby Landewee took a swing on match point against the Zalma volleyball team Thursday night, her flat-footed roll shot from the 10-foot line was stuffed by her alert Bulldogs counterpart Lesta Newberry, leaving Landewee sprawled out on the floor in a futile attempt to recover her shot.

Given another chance six points later, Landewee didn't miss. She beat Newberry one-on-one in the middle to finish off her team's 25-22, 21-25, 28-26 victory on its home court.

"I hoped it was going down," Landewee said. "I saw the gap, and I was trying to hit it down."

Landewee's emphatic kill to the left side of the Zalma defense -- her 11th of the match -- ended an improbably close third game.

There were 17 ties in the deciding game and neither team led by more than two points at any point.

Both teams had two match points before Leopold finally broke through and avenged a loss to Zalma in the championship match of the Woodland tournament earlier this season.

"It's not really a revenge thing because we'll probably see them two more times this season," Leopold senior middle Mallory James said. "We're not done playing. Not even close."

In a match decided mostly by the play in the middle for both teams, James had a career night. She finished with a match-high 19 kills and six blocks.

"Mallory hit the ball like a king tonight," Zalma coach Dwyght Ford said. "She didn't hit like that at Woodland. She absolutely crushed the ball. She killed us tonight. We weren't expecting that out of her. We were expecting it out of [Abby] Landewee, but we weren't expecting it out of her and she hurt us tonight. She did well."

James got kills from all three spots in the front row and recorded an ace in the third game.

"It was just one of those big games you get hyped up for," James said. "I guess it was just natural adrenaline. It just came together real well."

Landewee finished with five blocks for Leopold, while Newberry led Zalma with 14 kills and seven blocks.

Leopold changed its offense -- the Wildcats now use one setter instead of two -- and its rotation since facing Zalma earlier in the season.

"We have a whole new team out here and two freshmen and a junior and then our three seniors starting," Leopold coach Sandy Davis said. "We've still got a long ways to go yet. We are playing good and we are improving. Their desire and their want is just unbelievable."

The notoriously small Leopold gym was packed with fans to see the battle between state-ranked teams. Zalma was ranked fifth in the latest poll, while Leopold was sixth.

"I have coached and played in high school and college and I couldn't tell you in how many different gyms, and this is the absolute hardest place that I've ever coached or played in," Ford said. "Their fans are unbelievable. The atmosphere -- you can't beat it. Playing up here gives them a home-court advantage. It gives them five points. It just does."

Despite the atmosphere, Zalma jumped out to a 9-3 lead in Game 1 thanks in part to six consecutive serves from Newberry, but Leopold came back to win. The Wildcats went on a 5-1 run after leading 19-18 to help them close out the game.

"It's pretty sweet," Landewee said of playing on her home court. "The whole thing is kind of surreal. It just feels crazy. The gym gets wild. I love it. I love playing when it gets like that. It gives you that extra adrenaline push."

Leopold then held slim leads early in Game 2, but it was Zalma that closed out the game strong, breaking a 21-21 tie and winning the game's final four points to take the game.

Zalma setter Torie VanGennip finished with 44 assists, while her teammate Trista Clark had 33 digs to go along with Lorie VanGennip's 25.

Leopold setter Sydney Eeftink had 33 assists.

"We could possibly face them two more times this year, in the conference tournament and the district tournament," Ford said. "Thank God they're both on neutral courts."