Nerves get better of St. Vincent in final

~ The Indians featured six seniors, but none had been to state.

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- St. Vincent certainly played with an abundance of confidence in the round-robin semifinals Friday when it rallied for three comeback wins to earn a berth in the championship.

But the Indians lacked that same level of coolness when playing in the title game against Stockton on Saturday.

"We just didn't relax and have fun like we're used to doing," St. Vincent senior Lacey Siegmund said. "We were more nervous today and it translated because it was a much bigger game. We had a lot more on our plate and we felt like we had to try our hardest.

"Yesterday we had that drive knowing we could do it. And today this was just such an important game that everyone's heads fell instead of staying up and staying positive."

Glancing at the St. Vincent roster, it appears that it had plenty of experience with six seniors -- four of whom start. But the group of seniors had never made it past the sectional/quarterfinal round of the playoffs. So they never had played on such a big stage before and were matched against some teams that had been to Warrensburg.

"We're just all really nervous, and having this been our first year, we didn't know what to expect," Siegmund said. "And I think it was just nerves."

The dilemma for first-year Indians coach Mindy House is that while her team finally gained experience at the state tournament, she now loses four key members to graduation.

"Everyone knew when they walked in their freshman years that this was going to be a good group," House said. "It's going to be hard to see them leave, but we learned a lot from the girls and we've got to push back with our younger girls."

Only two juniors saw significant time on the court in the state playoffs -- Sarah DeWilde, who led the team at the state tournament with 22 kills, and Courtney Besand, who was second on the team in digs with 35 and third in kills with 14.

Like St. Vincent, Leopold lacked experience, having not been to the state tournament since 2002. That lack of experience was partly responsible for the team finishing 3-3 in the round-robin semifinal. The Wildcats lost a game to Osceola in which it led 24-20. If they had closed out that game, they would have played for the title.

Instead, the Wildcats settled for third place.

Leopold will miss some key seniors next fall, including middle hitter Maddy Hutchings, outside hitter Cassi Jansen and setter Cassie Seiler.

But a number of juniors stepped up in the state tournament. Casey Bucher, a junior three-year starter, had 26 kills and 33 digs during the two-day event. Junior middle hitter Danielle Beel added 15 kills and juniors April Nenninger and Chelsey Stoverink stepped up on defense. Nenninger had 22 digs and Stoverink had 29.

This experience could pay off next year against Class 1 powerhouse teams such as Bell City, which will lose many of its key members and will have to revamp its lineup.

"We'll be OK," Leopold coach Sandy Davis said. "We've got a great group of juniors and we've got some good underclassmen coming up. I think they'll be OK. You don't know what it's going to end up like, but I think the girls will be OK."