Pleasant Hill reaches final, Liberty North finishes with win: state volleyball scores
The Pleasant Hill High School volleyball team will play for the Missouri Class 3 championship on Friday.
That was guaranteed Thursday with a gutsy five-set victory over Ste. Genevieve in the MSHSAA semifinals at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.
The Chicks had a battle on their hands against Missouri State-bound kills machine Dru Koetting, who recorded the 1,000th of her career Thursday. But Pleasant Hill (26-8) proved up to the task, downing the Dragons 3-2. The winning scoreline: 26-24, 23-25, 14-25, 25-23, 15-7.
Pleasant Hill will meet Blair Oaks for the championship at noon on Friday at the Show Me Center.
While the Chicks advanced, the Liberty North High School volleyball team ran into a bit of a buzzsaw. After playing their way to the Class 5 final four, the Eagles’ state-championship hopes faded with a 3-1 loss to Lafayette (Wildwood).
Liberty North (31-6) did not go down without a fight. The Eagles dropped the first two sets but battled back in the third, leading Lafayette 14-10 and holding on for a 25-23 victory. That made it 2-1 and set the stage for a close fourth set, which Lafayette won 25-22 to complete a 3-1 semifinal victory.
Liberty North regrouped later Thursday and finished its season with a win, beating St. Dominic 3-1 for the third-place trophy.
Lafayette (31-6) plays Kickapoo in Friday’s 10 a.m. championship match.
In the Class 4 semifinals, Platte County (26-10) fell 3-1 to Westminster Christian (31-2-5) and was to play Webb City for third place at 8 p.m. Thursday night. Westminster Christian and Incarnate Word, a 3-0 semifinal victor against Webb City, will play Friday afternoon for the title.
The state volleyball tournaments, Classes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, continue Friday and Saturday at the Show Me Center (some classes conclude with Friday’s finals; others have finals scheduled for Saturday).
High school action still to come this week/weekend — aside from postseason football games and plenty of district-tourney competition in soccer and elsewhere — are the MSHSAA championships for cross country at the Gans Creek course in Columbia.
In Kansas, the state semifinals and finals for boys soccer are taking place Friday and Saturday at three sites: Topeka, Wichita and De Soto, Kan.
MSHSAA Missouri volleyball championships
All matches at the Show Me Center, Cape Girardeau
CLASS 5
Thursday’s semifinal scores
Lafayette (Wildwood) 3, Liberty North 1
Kickapoo 3, St. Dominic 2
Thursday’s third-place match
Liberty North 3, St. Dominic 1
Friday’s championship match
Lafayette vs. Kickapoo, 10 a.m.
CLASS 4
Thursday’s semifinal scores
Westminster Christian 3, Platte County 1
Incarnate Word 3, Webb City 0
Thursday’s third-place match
Platte County vs. Webb City, 8 p.m.
Friday’s championship match
Incarnate Word vs. Westminster Christian, 2 p.m.
CLASS 3
Thursday’s semifinal scores
Pleasant Hill 3, Ste. Genevieve 2
Blair Oaks 3, Eldon 0
Thursday’s third-place match
Ste. Genevieve vs. Eldon, 6 p.m.
Friday’s championship match
Pleasant Hill vs. Blair Oaks, noon
CLASS 2
Friday’s semifinals
Jefferson (Festus) vs. East Buchanan, 6 p.m.
Herman vs. Strafford, 6 p.m.
Saturday’s third-place match: 2 p.m.
Saturday’s championship: 4 p.m.
CLASS 1
Friday’s semifinals
Advance vs. Tarkio/Fairfax, 4 p.m.
Winona vs. Miller, 4 p.m.
Saturday’s third-place match: 10 a.m.
Saturday’s championship: noon
St. Thomas Aquinas, Bishop Miege, Heritage Christian win state volleyball championships
