Scott City drops Class 2 title match

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Scott City junior Brooke Simpson knew her team was in for an enormous challenge having to play Hermann in the Class 2 title match Saturday.

Simpson watched the Bearcats sweep her team in Friday's Class 2 round-robin event that determined which two schools would play in the championship match.

Likewise, Simpson, a junior middle hitter, also had played against some Hermann players in club volleyball during the winter. She knew the Bearcats have strong athletes capable of placing the ball, blocking and serving well.

"I knew what to expect," Simpson said. "I knew they were good."

Hermann proved it was the best volleyball team in Class 2, sweeping the Rams 25-23, 25-19 to win the state title Saturday at the Municipal Auditorium.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.comScott City's Katie Diebold reaches for the ball but fails to save it during the first game against Hermann in the Class 2 championship match.

Scott City (37-3-3), which entered the state tournament as the top-ranked team in Class 2, had to settle for second-place medals in its first ever trip to the volleyball state tournament.

The Rams earned a spot in the title match after posting the second-best record of the four schools during Friday's round robin.

Hermann (30-8-3) posted the best record Friday and didn't let up Saturday.

Simpson's club volleyball team had faced and lost to another club team that included Hermann middle blocker Shelby Winkelmann, outside hitter Elizabeth Abraham, setter/outside hitter Kasey Kirchhofer and outside hitter Hilary Trevino.

Kirchhofer had a strong match with 21 assists, but the best player on the court was Winkelmann, a sophomore, who recorded 15 kills and 17.5 points for her team.

AARON EISENHAUER ~ aeisenhauer@semissourian.comTOP: Brooke Simpson raises the second-place trophy.RIGHT: Scott City's Katie Diebold dives for the ball during Saturday's Class 2 championship match.

Hermann, led by Winkelmann, did a nice job of placing shots, including scoring on soft taps.

"I played against her before on my winter volleyball team and I knew she'd be good," Simpson said about Winkelmann. "And I knew they had a really smart setter, smart hitters and a quick offense."

The first game was wild. Hermann jumped ahead 5-0, but Scott City battled back to tie it 6-6. Simpson scored four of the six points during the Rams' 6-1 run.

Scott City students and fans were boisterous just like Friday. While Simpson helped her team back, Rams fans chanted her name along with "You can't stop us."

Scott City eventually took the lead at 13-12. It led by as many as four points at 16-12. But the Bearcats were relentless, scoring five straight points to reclaim a 17-16 lead.

"I think sometimes we tried just a little too hard," Simpson said. "We wanted to hit the ball a little too hard. ... A lot of the time they would put three blocks on us, which is really hard for our hitters, and we have to hit around three girls rather than two."

The first game remained close throughout, but Hermann did what it needed to do to pull out the two-point win.

"We hit the ball like we should," Winkelmann said. "And our passes were good. We knew they were a good team because they had only lost one game [entering the tournament]. ... We pressed over the net and we just cut the ball to get around their big blockers."

Hermann started the second game on a 7-0 run. Scott City was able to battle back to within three points, but that's the closest the Rams got before eventually losing 25-19.

"After the first game, some of us were pretty down," Simpson said. "We wanted to win and we knew we still had a shot, but we knew they were going to come out and want to win the second one. I don't know if we weren't ready. We wanted it."

Hermann served well with seven aces.

Simpson had 12 kills. Anna Laitinen added seven kills and Katie Hogan had five.

"We had a lot of excitement and we just let down," Hogan said. "When we messed up, we let it affect our next mistakes. And then we started yelling at what we were doing wrong."