SHS takes second in tournament

POPLAR BLUFF -- Sikeston's volleyball team spent all day Saturday at the Three Rivers Community College High School Volleyball Invitational and came home with a second place trophy.

Ten teams participated in the event, split into two pools with five teams each. The top two teams from each pool advanced to bracket play.

In Sikeston's pool, the Lady Bulldogs took second place behind Winona. Other teams in the pool included Twin Rivers, South Pemiscot and Doniphan. In the other pool, Richland took first and Eminence took second.

Other teams in that pool included NMCC, Bunker and Greenville. The No. 1 team from each pool played the No. 2 team from the other, with the winners advancing to the finals.

Sikeston defeated Richland in three sets: 15-13, 15-17, and 15-11 to go to the championship game against a very tough Winona team which has now won the tournament four straight years.

In the championship, the Lady Bulldogs played tired and lackluster to get beat 1-15, 5-15.

"Expect for the games versus Winona, the Lady 'Dogs played very well...with drive, intensity and purpose," said Sikeston coach Steve Beydler. "After losing to Winona in pool play, the girls wanted to prove they could play better volleyball than their performance against Winona had just shown, so they went out and proceeded to completely shut out Doniphan 15-0, 15-0, then immediately played South Pemiscot and defeated the Lady Dons 15-1, 15-3. I was pleased to see the girls come out with such fire after losing to Winona. I am proud of each and every one of them."

Stats for the day long tourney: Summer Ray (11 kills, 2 aces, 19 digs, 4 assists); Jaime Medlin (13 kills, 4 blocks); Joy Daniel (44 kills, 5 aces, 14 digs, 1 assist, 5 blocks); Rachel Vining (1 ace, 9 digs, 1 assist); Emily Slaten (7 kills, 18 aces, 8 digs, 36 assists (served 95.2%); Fleming Silverthorn (9 kills, 11 aces, 19 digs, 32 assists (38% of her serves were aces); Stefanie Mason (5 kills, 9 digs); Beth French (8 aces, 14 digs (served 94.2%).

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston volleyball team lost in straight sets to Bell City on Monday at the Sikeston Field House, falling 15-4, 16-14.

Sikeston (14-14-2) has one game left in the regular season, scheduled for Thursday when they host New Madrid County Central at 6 p.m. for senior night.

In Monday's game, Sikeston was pounded in the first set, but rallied in the second set to nearly extend the match into a third set.

"The first game it seemed like we didn't have much focus," said Sikeston head coach Steve Beydler. "We were going through the motions. In the second game, things changed quickly and we were much more focused."

Sikeston's statistical leaders were; Summer Ray (3 pts, 1 ace, 6 digs), Jaime Medlin (2 kills), Joy Daniel (2 pts, 1 ace, 4 digs, 7 kills, 2 blocks), Rachael Vining (4 pts, 2 aces, 2 digs), Emily Slaten (1 pt, 3 assists), Fleming Silverthorn (2 pts, 4 digs, 6 assists) and Beth French (6 pts, 1 ace, 2 digs).

"Bell City is a very tough team," said Beydler. "They won the Stoddard County championship over teams like Bernie and Dexter. I was pleased to see us come back. After the first game we could've folded but they came back and made a game of it. Hopefully we can carry that over into the next week."

ORAN -- Oran defeated Oak Ridge in straight sets, 15-8, 15-8. Ashley Dirnberger led the way, serving 11 points.

Maria Eftink finished with 11 kills, two blocks and had four aces. Candice Duncan contributed 10 assists.

Amber Seyer had six kills and one block.