Volleyball sectional preview: ND, Leopold, Scott City, St Vincent, Bell City and Jackson ready

Notre Dame senior Lindsay Strieker watched the school's softball team celebrate its state title.

She wants to extend the party.

"It was fun seeing them walking around the hall saying we're state champs," Strieker said. "Also seeing them having an assembly, sitting in the bleachers, knowing we also could be there."

Strieker and the Notre Dame volleyball team will try to advance to the Class 3 final four when it returns to action Saturday in a sectional match. Notre Dame is one of six local volleyball teams to advance to the sectional round.

"We see how much they gained from it and how awesome it was to win," Notre Dame senior Meghan Dohogne said of the softball team. "We want that."

The Bulldogs face a daunting task in the sectional round. They face De Soto at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at De Soto High School. The winner advances to the quarterfinal immediately after the match.

The Dragons enter at 34-1, and one of their wins was against Notre Dame in the semifinals of the Festus tournament. But the Notre Dame players argue that match benefits them.

"We know how their defense is, how they're pretty low," Strieker said. "They're pretty scrappy. They pick up a lot of things. We need to hit the ball to the ground more."

Notre Dame coach Tara Stroup said the pressure is on De Soto, which was ranked second in Class 3 in the latest state poll.

"I think it's good to have seen them before, and it's probably good to have been beaten by them," Stroup said. "A lot of time you go in with one of those records like that, having lost once, and you start to lose and you don't know how to react.

"I think it definitely was good to see what some of their strengths were and what some of their weaknesses were and we can work on the stuff we need to work on."

Class 1 at Bell City High School

Leopold refuses to look at a potential revenge match against Bell City in the quarterfinal round. The Wildcats need to take care of Lesterville first.

"We don't even talk about the next game," Leopold coach Sandy Davis said. "We're focusing on our first game. You can't look past that first game, and we're not. We're just focusing on Lesterville and take it as it comes on that day."

Leopold (25-3) was ranked No. 2 in the final Class 1 poll, and Lesterville was No. 4. But the Bearcats are riding the momentum of knocking off Bismarck, No. 3 in the final rankings, in the district title match.

"Lesterville is a good team, a well-rounded team with a couple good hitters," Davis said. "We're just trying to mentally prepare ourselves and work on the passing and hitting from different positions.

"I think physically we're ready. We just have to mentally prepare ourselves."

A bit of good news for the Wildcats is that leading hitting Kirsten Thele, who injured her right hand during the district championship match, is expected to play Saturday.

"She's got a sprained thumb," Davis said. "We're giving her a little time off and letting that heal. She's still doing stuff. We're going to try to get her ready for Saturday."

Bell City will face South Pemiscot (25-3) in the sectional round. The Cubs, who are led by sophomore hitter Jasmine Johnson, needed three games to down Bernie in the district title match.

South Pemiscot has runner-up finishes in the Gideon Invitational and most recently in the Bootheel Conference tournament, where it fell to Kennett.

South Pemiscot defeated Gideon in the district final.

Bell City coach Erin Hoffman, who has led the Cubs into the sectional round in all seven of her seasons, said she didn't know much about the Bulldogs other than Shelby Booker being the team's primary hitter.

Johnson has much the same role for Bell City, having knocked down 28 kills in the district championship match.

"She gives us most of our offense," Hoffman said.

As a freshman, Johnson helped the Cubs to a third-place finish in Class 1. She is the only returning starter from that team.

"I feel like we play really good defense and we can serve aggressively," Hoffman said. "We've been working the last few practices on getting more of our players into the offense with more productive hits."

Hoffman is hoping her team's experience on the state stage will help. While Johnson is the only returner, setter Trisha Slagely was a defensive specialist, and seniors Alicia Slagely, LaGena Strobel and junior Alex Eakin were subbed in and out.

"I do know sometimes the team more mentally prepared for the intensity, a lot of times that will carry you pretty far," Hoffman said.

Class 2 at Clearwater High School

Scott City, the state's top-ranked team in Class 2, wants to erase the memory of last season. The Rams entered last year's postseason as the state's top-ranked team but lost in the state title match.

"We feel like we've got the bull's-eye on our back," Scott City coach Haley Jennings said. "Everyone wants to take us down. But at the same time, it's kind of helped us that we got second last year. We've got more to prove. They're ready to prove that we can do better."

The Rams face Senath-Hornersville, which won its first district title this year. That's in contrast to Scott City, which boasts six players that saw action in last year's final four.

"We're not as scared, not as intimidated as we were last year," Jennings said. "They are more focused. They're excited, but at the same time, they're more determined this year. They're more ready."

St. Vincent returns to the sectional round after falling in the 2007 Class 2 state championship match.

The Indians (20-15-1) will face Liberty Mountain View (24-5-5) in their sectional. The Eagles weren't ranked in the final state poll. St. Vincent also wasn't ranked, but did receive consideration.

"We're hitting the ball much better than at the beginning of the season, and our blocking has definitely improved the last month of the season," St. Vincent coach Mindy House said. "And a lot has to do with the consistency of the players, because for a while we were moving girls up to fill spots for girls that were sick or were hurt. I'd say we're pretty healthy right now. Our intensity level the last couple of weeks has really stepped up."

Class 4 at Kirkwood High School

Jackson coach Maile Gannon may have lost her voice somewhere during the district tournament, but she didn't lose her team.

The Indians collected their first district title since 2002 and will venture north for what looks to be a difficult sectional match against Cor Jesu Academy, and if they win, an even tougher quarterfinal that could feature defending state champion St. Joseph Academy, which is ranked No. 1 in the state.

"We can't worry about them," Gannon said in a whisper-like voice about St. Joseph Academy. "If we're playing them, I'll be thrilled to death. Winning the district championship was our No. 1 goal this season, and anything from here is icing on top. We want to be competitive and challenge every point we can and we'll see where that takes us."

Gannon said she didn't know too much about Cor Jesu, but noted the Chargers defeated a strong Oakville team in two games to win the district championship.

"Our scouting reports say they have good size," Gannon said. "Any time you go up north, it's going be tough competition. The players up there typically play on club teams at a high level, and they play year round."

Jackson will take a 22-9 record into the 4:30 p.m. sectional match against Cor Jesu (27-6).

"It will be a tough match for us," Gannon said. "Do I think we can win? Absolutely. When all six of us play together on the court, we can be hard to beat, and that includes for teams north of us."