Leopold to face defending state champ Winona in title match

The Leopold volleyball team has one more goal to reach this season -- win a state title.

The Wildcats earned a spot in the Class 1 state championship game on Friday at the Show Me Center.

"That was our goal," Leopold coach Sandy Davis said. "We've had our goals all season -- to have a good season, win districts, win sectionals and make it to the championship game. They've been playing well today and some times were better than others, but that's all a part of the experience. We have to see what tomorrow brings."

Leopold won four of its six games in pool play and will face defending state champion Winona in the title match at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

Leopold ended pool play with its only losses against Winona 25-16, 25-17.

"I'm really, really excited," senior setter Sydney Eeftink said. "We came here not knowing what to expect at all, and now we're playing for a championship title. And after losing that last game we want revenge and don't want to lose again, so we'll do anything and everything we can to get this."

"We don't want to lose again, and we will do whatever we can and put our heart out on the floor to get this win," Eeftink said.

Leopold struggled to find an answer for Winona hitters Rachel Holthaus and Nola McAfee.

The two combined for all of Winona's 24 kills in the match. Holthaus hit .640 and finished with 16 kills and McAfee hit .533 and had eight.

"They're good. I mean, they're aggressive -- can't give them free balls, that's for sure -- and their serving is aggressive, so we're going to have to be on our game tomorrow," Davis said. "Our passes are going to have to be on, our hitters are going to have to be on. We're going to have to run our offense. They've got two outstanding middles, but we've got a lot of outstanding hitters, too. We've got to come to play."

Leopold junior Caitlin Petty led the Wildcats' offense with 11 kills against Winona. Junior Bailee Cope had six and Ashlyn Bucher had three. Eeftink had 15 assists.

Leopold's biggest struggle in the loss was getting a good pass to provide a quality set and opportunity for its hitters.

Senior setter Sydney Eeftink isn't concerned about adjusting to the blocks of 6-foot Holthaus and 6-2 McAfee.

"I don't feel like there's any pressure because I know my hitters can move around [the block] and we can dominate, and we have before," Eeftink said. "We just have to have a pass, and we have everything we need. "

"I think it was that everybody wasn't used to people over 6 foot tall and our players got kind of timid and scared about it," Eeftink said. "But all we need to do is get a pass, and we'll have it."

Earlier in the day Leopold defeated Santa Fe 25-23, 27-25 in the Wildcats' closest pool play match.

The Wildcats also won 25-13, 25-18 against Osceola.

"We had our passes on every single time," Eeftink said. "We were running quick plays, and I don't think the other teams were used to that. They were used to the high sets and we were just running as quick as we could, and it was working every single time."

Petty hit .556 with 11 kills in the win against Santa Fe and .588 with 11 kills against Osceola.

"She's smart. She's just a smart hitter," Davis said of Petty. "She's a good all-around hitter. Passes are there, sets are there -- makes a hitter's job a lot easier. But she can adjust to anything, so she did well."

Cope hit .444 with 11 kills and Bucher hit .545 with seven kills against Santa Fe. Eeftink had 20 assists.

Cope had seven kills and Bucher had five kills against Osceola. Eeftink had 15 assists.

Libero Leah Landewee had eight digs against Osceola and Denai Arnzen had six. Arnzen had five digs against Santa Fe.