Leopold wins Woodland Volleyball Tournament

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- A lively near-capacity crowd of more than 800 people saw some serious power volleyball as Leopold threatened to blow Woodland out of its own gym before the Cardinals digested a coach's tongue-lashing and made a championship match out of it at the annual Woodland Tournament.

After the Wildcats rolled past the Cardinals 25-9 in the opening set of Friday night's championship match, Woodland coach Kacie Patton said: "I told them they didn't show up, and they had to make Leopold earn it and know they had been in a game when they left our gym.

"We had 22 errors in the first set, which is a whole game. Leopold is very experienced in championships. We had beaten them in pool play Tuesday, but this was only our second championship game."

Regaining their composure, the Cardinals got off to a much better start in the second set and led 11-9, 15-11 and 19-16. The teams were tied 21-21 before the Wildcats prevailed 25-21 to close out the match.

Leopold coach Sandy Davis said the series of timeouts she had called during the second set were indispensable to her squad's outcome.

"They played their hearts out," Davis said. "They moved the ball around and played together. Their chemistry was outstanding."

Leopold's Caitlin Petty had eight kills, three assists and two blocks; Denai Arnzen had two kills, 13 digs and two service aces; Ashlyn Bucher had five kills; Bailee Cope had five kills, two blocks and two aces; and Sydney Eeftink recorded 16 assists and three aces.

Woodland's Josie Long finished with three kills, three digs and two blocks; Rachel Poole had three kills, three digs and four blocks; Whitney Lincoln dished out 11 assists; and Chelsea Cureton had five digs.

Leopold advanced with a 25-11, 23-25, 25-17 victory over Saxony Lutheran in the semifinals. Woodland moved on by defeating Advance in the semifinals.

Saxony Lutheran earned the third-place trophy, beating Advance 25-15, 25-19.

In quarterfinal-round bracket play earlier Friday, Saxony beat Oak Ridge 25-12, 25-11; Woodland downed Zalma 25-9, 25-12; Leopold bested Bell City 25-11, 25-11; and Advance defeated Meadow Heights 25-13, 25-15.

The all-tournament team consisted of Emma Hemman and McKenzie Elam of Oak Ridge, Emily Davis of Zalma, Saxony's Raegan Wieser and Courtney Bergman, Woodland's Long and Poole, Advance's Allie Below and Leopold's Arnzen and Petty.