Leopold sweeps aside St. Vincent in final

PATTON, Mo. -- Things didn't quite go according to the second-seeded St. Vincent volleyball team's plan Tuesday night in its Class 1 District 4 championship matchup against top-seeded Leopold.

"I've watched four or five matches of them, and that's probably the best they've done on serve-receive and that was part of our game plan -- to serve aggressive and get them out of system and we'd get a lot of free balls," St. Vincent coach Tim Haffner said. "But when they're serve-receiving that well, we didn't get a lot of free balls and they were attacking a lot of balls."

Leopold coach Sandy Davis knew St. Vincent had aggressive servers after beating them in a close match Oct. 21 and focused on her player's passing and aggressive hitting leading up to the rematch.

It paid off, as Leopold (24-5-1) topped St. Vincent (14-16-1) with a 25-12, 25-18 victory to claim the district title.

Leopold’s Bailee Cope, center, and Ashlyn Bucher block a shot by St. Vincent’s Delia Lowman during the second game of the Class 1 District 4 championship Tuesday in Patton, Mo. Leopold won 25-12, 25-18. (Fred Lynch)

It's the Wildcats' fourth district title in six years, but their first since 2011.

"Any of our girls haven't made it past, so we're just ready to go," Leopold junior Caitlin Petty said about advancing to the sectional round.

"This is what you work for all season long," Leopold coach Sandy Davis said. "All this week I told the girls they know what to do and where to go and what to expect, but they had to get out here and do it -- and they did.

"They played their hearts out. They played with desire and want. We knew we had to because St. Vincent is a good team, well-coached and they've got a good group of girls."

The Wildcats jumped out to a quick 6-2 lead in the first game. The Indians pulled within 7-6 before Leopold outscored them 18-6 to finish out the game.

Haffner felt that his team was much better than what they showed in the first game.

"I was happy to see that after that game one, which was very lopsided, that they didn't come out flat and just roll over, and that they fought for me here at the end of the season," Haffner said.

FRED LYNCH ~ flynch@semissourian.com

St. Vincent led for the first time in the match at the start of the second game. The Indians pulled ahead to a 6-4 lead, and Leopold called its first timeout of the game when it trailed 11-9.

Leopold scored the next three points on St. Vincent errors to pull even at 12-12.

The lead changed three more times before the Wildcats used a 9-3 run to pull ahead for good.

Petty led a balanced attack for the Wildcats with eight kills, six blocks, four assists and two digs. Bailee Cope had five kills, six blocks, four digs and two aces.

Denai Arnzen had four kills and 11 digs, and Ashlyn Bucher had four kills and four blocks.

Sydney Eeftink had 10 assists, two digs and three blocks and a kill. Emily Seiler had seven digs and two blocks and Leah Landewee had eight digs.

"Every one of them played their part in this," Davis said. "Whether it was my setter's sets or my middle's blocks or hits or my defense, they all played a huge part in this. As a team I thought we played really well."

St. Vincent was led by Kassidy Kassel with six kills and an ace. Kathryn Verseman had four kills and seven digs,and Kellie L'Hote had 14 assists.

Leopold will host the Class 1 District 1 champion Saturday in the sectional round. The Wildcats' opponent will be South Pemiscot (22-5-1) or Gideon (28-5).

"Whoever it is, we've got to play," Davis said. "Because everyone's gunning for the same thing."

Petty stated Leopold's ultimate goal: "Go to state. Win."