PREP VOLLEYBALL: Preparation pays dividends, hard schedule makes for easy St. Louis win
After spending the first half of the high school volleyball season learning the hard way against a stacked schedule, the St. Louis Saints are finding their groove at the right time.
The No. 8 Saints beat No. 25 Booker T. Washington-New Orleans 25-15, 25-10-25-10 in a Division III bi-district playoff game Tuesday at S.J. Welsh Middle School. The Saints advanced to face the winner of No. 9 Morgan City-No. 24 Lusher Charter in the regional round later this week.
The win gave the Saints (17-19) 11 wins in their last 15 matches. They started the season 6-15 against a schedule head coach Elizabeth Thompson said she designed to produce lessons, not wins.
“It seems to pay off at the end of the season if we play a lot of hard teams,” Thompson explained. “I learned that we were mentally tough. Even though we weren’t winning on the scoreboard, we were doing lots of things well. We never gave up; we were always fighting, which is something we have been trying to work on for the past few years.”
The Saints blew open the first set after it was tied 4-4, going on an 11-1 run to build a 16-5 lead. In the second set the Saints scored 11 points in a row to take a 22-7 lead. St. Louis closed the match with a 10-1 run in the third.
“Our passing was really good; we have been working on ball control,” Thompson said. “We did a fairly decent job of siding out pretty quickly when they were serving.”
Thompson said the Saints will need to improve a few intangibles to advance in the playoffs.
“We are going to have to stay disciplined, something we have been focusing on this season,” she said. “We have to do all of the little things right so all of the big things fall into place for us. We have to be in the right place at the right time and communicate. That has been a tough one for us. Our communication drops off and then no one knows where anyone is.”
Dillon Anderson led the Saints with 11 assists, four kills and eight aces. Grace Simien added seven kills and three aces.
Rayna Parson, Zyraine Stipe and Amia Bowens had two kills each for BTW (10-11).