St. Vincent volleyball team stuns Scott City in district final

~ The Indians rallied to defeat the defending Class 2 state champions

The St. Vincent volleyball team drew inspiration from its match against Scott City at the SEMO Spike tournament.

The Indians lost to Rams 2-1, but winning one game against the defending Class 2 state champions provided the necessary confidence Tuesday night.

St. Vincent defeated Scott City 11-25, 25-21, 25-23 to capture the Class 2 District 2 title on the Rams' home court.

"We played them at the SEMO tournament and we beat them one out of three, so we knew we could beat them," Indians coach Pam Riney said. "At that game, everyone was playing their best, and we knew we'd have to do that to beat them. We watched a little film. We kind of knew their rotations and where we had to score our points. It worked. It really worked."

Scott City cruised in Game 1, but Riney said her players made a couple of key plays at the end to start turning momentum.

"There were two points in that game, our 10th and 11th points, where we really fought for those two points extremely hard and got us going and got the crowd going in our favor," Riney said. "We ended up losing that game. But it was 24-9 and we ended up scoring two points and they scored a point to win the game, but we carried that momentum on to the second game and then on to the third. It was back and forth and back and forth, but our girls just gave it all they had. They sure did. It was awesome."

Neither team could pull away in Game 3 until Scott City went up 20-18. But St. Vincent answered and went up 24-22. Scott City grabbed the next point, but the Indians ended it there.

Scott City managed to dig a St. Vincent blast, but the dig went over the net and barely fell out of bounds to end the match.

"We lost momentum and we just couldn't get it back," Scott City coach Haley Jennings said. "We'd get it back for a little bit, but we just couldn't keep it back on our side.

"Our girls played well, but there's still things we need to pick up and St. Vincent came out in those second and third sets and just played hard. Both teams played great tonight. I just wished for a better outcome."

St. Vincent advanced to Saturday's sectional round, where it will play Mountain View Liberty, which defeated Cabool 2-0.

"They're just so pumped," Riney said about her team. "I don't even know if they'll go to school tomorrow they're so excited. They're just really, really excited. You just work so hard all season to get to that point and to beat someone that you know is that good. It was amazing."

St. Vincent last earned a trip to the Class 2 state tournament in 2007 when it finished second to Stockton.

The Sikeston Standard Democrat contributed to this report.