VOLLEYBALL TEAMS EYE DISTRICTS

Bell City was the area's lone state high school volleyball champion last year.

This season the Lady Cubs probably have the best chance of any team to keep southeast Missouri on the state volleyball map.

The road to the state tournament begins this week for Missouri volleyball teams. Four district tournaments will be played this week in the area.

The Class 4A, District 1 tournament in Sikeston and the 1A, District 2 tournament at Richland in Essex will start today.

Tuesday, the 2A, District 3 tournament at Notre Dame and the 1A, District 4 tournament in Meadow Heights will begin.

District winners advance to Saturday's sectional competition.

Class 4A, District 1

The most competitive championship match might come from this district. Jackson is the defending district champion, but Perryville was given the tournament's top seed. Jackson is No. 2.

Jackson (18-7-4) has a better record than Perryville (13-9-3). But Perryville won a marathon match against Jackson at Perryville 13-15, 15-10, 15-10 on Oct. 16.

The other teams in the tournament are No. 3 Poplar Bluff, No. 4 Sikeston and No. 5 Cape Central.

Today, Sikeston will play Cape Central at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Perryville will play the Sikeston-Cape Central winner at 5, Poplar Bluff and Jackson will play at 6:15 and the championship will be played at 7:30.

Class 2A, District 3

Defending district champion Notre Dame is the top seed and will host the tournament.

Notre Dame, which is 19-6-2, will enter the tournament on the heels of a loss to Leopold at home on Thursday, but still appears to be the definite favorite.

In its regular season meeting with No. 2 seed Woodland on the road, Notre Dame won easily.

The other teams in the tournament are No. 3 Bloomfield, No. 4 St. Vincent, No. 5 Chaffee and No. 6 Scott City.

Tuesday, St. Vincent will play Chaffee at 4:30 p.m. and Bloomfield will play Scott City at 5:45. Notre Dame will play the St. Vincent-Chaffee winner at 7 and Woodland will play the Bloomfield-Scott City winner at 8:15.

The championship will be played Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Class 1A, District 2

It looks as though top seed Bell City should have no trouble in its tournament.

The Lady Cubs are 27-1-1, their only loss coming against 3A power Park Hills.

Bell City has beaten each of the teams in the tournament except for No. 2 seed Gideon and No. 6 Risco, which the Lady Cubs have not played.

"Right now we're playing real well and the girls have a lot of confidence," said Bell City coach Carl Ritter. "But I don't know what Gideon's got and we won't take anything for granted."

The other teams in the tournament are No. 3 Advance, No. 4 Richland and No. 5 Oran.

Today at Richland, Richland will play Oran at 5 p.m. and Advance will play Risco at 6. Bell City will play the Richland-Oran winner at 7 and Gideon will play the Advance-Risco winner at 8.

The championship will be played Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Class 1A, District 4

The top seed, defending district champion Leopold, struggled in its last matches of the regular season. After an ugly win at Notre Dame Thursday, the Lady Wildcats were blown out by Bell City Friday.

"Our last couple games haven't been that good; maybe we got it out of our system," said first-year Leopold coach Leanne Huffman, whose team is 21-4-1. "I hope they'll play like I know they can."

The No. 2 seed is Ste. Genevieve Valle, which Leopold hasn't played this year, but Huffman said it has "a really strong defense."

Leopold has beaten each of the district's remaining teams in each of its games: No. 3 Meadow Heights, No. 4 Zalma. No. 5 Oak Ridge and No. 6 Marquand.

Tuesday in Meadow Heights, Zalma will play Oak Ridge at 6 p.m. and Meadow Heights will play Marquand at 7. Thursday, Leopold will play the Zalma-Oak Ridge winner at 6 p.m. and Valle will play the Meadow Heights-Marquand winner at 7.

The championship will be played Thursday at 8 p.m.