Since 2010, the St. Pius X volleyball team has been a fixture at the Missouri State High School Activities Association championships.
With straight-set wins Saturday at Hillsboro against Bloomfield in the sectionals and Metro in the quarterfinals, the Lancers are back – again. After a two-year stretch in Class 3, the Lancers moved back down to Class 2 this season.
Since the championships were moved in 2011 to the Show-Me Center in Cape Girardeau, it’s become the Lancers’ rite of passage each fall to travel the 80 miles south on Interstate 55 to compete for a title. But they haven’t won state since 2011, when the Lancers were in Class 2.
So there’s a lot of unfinished business at Cape.
“We really want it this year, especially the seniors,” St. Pius senior Eleanor Russell said Saturday night after the Lancers dispatched Metro 25-8, 25-15. “We want to go down there and kick some butt. We (seniors) have been there three times and haven’t won; we want to win our last time.”
None of the teams that played in the Class 2 final four last year – including defending champion Lutheran St. Charles – made it back this season. So a new champion will be crowned.
The Lancers (32-4) have the best record of the four teams, which include St. Paul Lutheran of Concordia (27-5-3), Hermann (24-9-2) and Liberty of Mountain View (28-6-1). Pool play begins Friday. The championship is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.
“Just because this is Class 2, we’re not going to take our foot off the pedal,” St. Pius senior outside hitter Jena Otec said. “(On Saturday) we had a chance to go to state. That pumped us up and we played our best.”
Otec, Russell and libero Shelby Meyer are the Lancers’ three seniors. Otec, who will don the volleyball uniform of Purdue University next year, had some advice for the other seniors before Saturday’s matches started.
“I came into today playing like it’s my last game, and I told (Russell) and (Meyer) to play hard and don’t leave any regrets on the floor,” Otec said.
The Lancers are battle-tested, having played one of the toughest schedules of any team in the state, regardless of class. Earlier this month their resolve was tested when they lost matches to Lutheran South and Ursuline Academy five days apart. Lutheran South is in the Class 3 final four while Ursuline didn’t survive the ultra-competitive Class 4 district that included longtime powerhouse St. Joseph’s Academy.
“It readjusted our mindset that, ‘yes, we can be beaten,’” Otec said. “And those are really good teams. We have to work our butts off no matter who we’re playing – no matter if they’re a smaller school or whatever class they are. It paid off in the end because it made us work harder and exposed some holes in our game.”
For most of Saturday’s two matches, St. Pius head coach Dustin Cutts stood with his arms crossed and stoically watched the Lancers eliminate two underdogs. Cutts said his team plays better when he’s calm on the sidelines.
“And when they’re calm, they’re having more fun,” Cutts said. “That’s the goal.”
Cutts said just because the Lancers are competing in Class 2 this year, they know they’ll have to continue to play their best to grab that elusive second title.
“It’s going to be tough,” Cutts said. “There are some really good teams in Class 2. It’s not as stacked as Class 3 or Class 4; the bigger schools have more kids and bigger kids. We (still) need to perform well. That’s the bottom line.”
St. Pius crushed Bloomfield 25-5 in the first set of their sectional match. But the Wildcats played hard in the second game before the Lancers won 25-21. The Wildcats were as close as 10-13, 11-14 and 17-20.
Freshman Caly Otec had a nice tip at the net to give the Lancers a 21-17 lead. Jena Otec smashed a patented blast from the left side to make it 22-17. But Bloomfield juniors Jewel Chism and Cayla Newberry scored consecutive points for the Wildcats to cut the Lancers’ lead to 22-19. The Wildcats were awarded the second point after St. Pius was called for a double touch. Cutts yelled at the officials, “You can’t call double touch on first contact.” But the point stood.
A Jena Otec shot was so hard it deflected off a Bloomfield player into the stands, several rows up. The point put the Lancers up 24-20. Otec finished the match with a kill from the left side.
The Lancers reeled off a 7-0 run in the first game of the quarterfinals to run away from Metro, a St. Louis city school. Like Bloomfield, the Panthers played better in the second game, but every time they scored a point, they lost service on an unforced error. Metro served into the net to give St. Pius a 23-14 lead, and the match ended when the Panthers served long.
“They’re really good defensive teams and made some great defensive plays,” Cutts said about Bloomfield and Metro. “But overall they’re just not as big as the teams we’re used to playing. They’re good teams that have had good seasons. We’re fortunate to be where we are.”