Scott City claims third straight district crown

Scott City coach Carl Ritter Jr. felt his team was not hitting the ball like it should early in the Class 2 District 2 championship Tuesday at Scott City.

Once the Rams did start hitting, they were able to put Twin Rivers on the defensive and cruised to a 25-18, 25-13 sweep. It was the third straight district title for Scott City.

"I felt like we started off and we were tipping too much," Ritter said. "We didn't hit the ball hard enough."

It did not take long for the Rams to take control of the first game. After the Royals tied the score at 4-4, Scott City scored seven of the next eight points to go ahead 11-5.

The score narrowed to 14-12, but that was as close as it would get. Scott City's experienced lineup kept its composure and did not allow Twin Rivers within six points the rest of the game.

Scott City returned nearly all of its starters from last year's district champion squad. Freshman middle hitter Brooke Simpson was the one main addition.

"I think we've really grown together as a team," junior Whitney Tapley said. "We all play really well together."

The Rams got back to their bad habits early in the second game and fell behind 7-2. Ritter called a timeout to get his players back in line.

"In that second game when they had us down 7-2, I basically told them they had to pick up the intensity," Ritter said. "There was too much tipping. We started hitting the ball, and when we started hitting the ball you saw what happened.

"They had to play defense all night, and we got to play offense. You've got to hit the ball."

Following the timeout, the Rams scored the next nine points to go ahead 11-7. Jenni Heisserer had a couple of kills early on in the run to get things started, and Simpson had a pair of service aces.

"Our momentum was down a little there, but once we started coming back we got excited again," Tapley said.

Twin Rivers called a timeout after Scott City took its first lead at 8-7 and had to use another timeout when the Rams went ahead 12-8. The Royals got as close as 12-10, but Scott City rolled from there.

Scott City scored the final eight points of the match to finish off the Royals.

Heisserer led the Rams with nine kills. Simpson and Tapley had five kills apiece. Kacie Ritter led Scott City with 22 assists. Simpson added six aces, Brittany Licare had seven digs and Valerie Gibbons had five digs.

The Rams will play the District 1 winner Saturday in the sectional round at Bloomfield. Scott City fell to Crystal City in the sectional round last year and has never won a sectional game in three tries.

"We're really excited," Tapley said. "We want to go all the way this time."