By Amanda Smallwood and Dee Dee Elmore
UCA sportswriting
St. Joseph's Lady Bulldogs will take their 20-0 record into the Class 3A State Volleyball Tournament at Harrison Youth Center at noon Tuesday against the 12-4 Alpena Lady Leopards.
The tournament is hosted by Green Forest.
The winner will move on to Wednesday's noon quarterfinals. Semifinals are set for Thursday, with the championship match to be played at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31 at Arkansas State University's Convocation Center in Jonesboro.
St. Joe is the No. 1 seed from the 3A-Central. Alpena is No. 3 from the North.
“State is always unfamiliar territory,” St. Joseph captain Veronica Bausom said. “We will have to play hard, stay focused and play one game at a time.
Joining the Lady Bulldogs from the Central in the state tournament bracket are Conway Christian, the league's second seed, and Cave City, No. 3.
Alpena defeated Valley Springs, 25-20, 25-17, 25-23, to reach the state tournament. Alpena was ranked as the No. 2 seed entering the 3A-North District Tournament.
Other teams from the North in the state field are Green Forest, No. 1, and Yellville-Summit, No. 2.
Alpena demolished Marshall 25-8, 25-14, 25-8 in the first round of the district tournament but fell to Yellville-Summit, 25-14, 27-25, 25-23.
The winner of St. Joseph-Alpena will play the winner of the first-round match between South No. 2 Fountain Lake and Northeast No. 2 Harrisburg.
“We can't look forward to playing anyone else in the tournament until we complete our first task by beating Alpena,” St. Joseph coach Luke Davis said.
At the 2008 Class 3A State Tournament, St. Joseph entered as the No. 2 seed from the Central and beat Union Christian, 25-18, 18-25, 20-25, 25-14, 15-12, before losing to Mansfield, the No. 1 seed from the Northwest, 25-17, 26-24, 25-10.
Mansfield made it to the final before falling to Lavaca, 25-19, 25-17, 16-25, 27-25, which was seeded second from the Northwest behind Mansfield.
“We have improved a lot this year,” Davis said. “To do well in this tournament we cannot lose focus, but we will have to battle to stay in.”
Alpena coach Shannon Hudson said she didn't know much about the Lady Bulldogs.
“I don’t know what to expect from the match against St. Joseph,” Hudson said. “I have only heard about the team from other coaches, so that makes it hard for us to match up against them.”
Hudson said Alpena had a solid combination of players.
“Some of my top individuals are Janna Case, Cassandra Green, Courtney Daniels, DJ Daniels, Melissa White-Buffalo, Rebecca Evans, and Lesley Smith,” Hudson said.
St. Joseph’s roster includes standout players Amy Schichtl (214 kills this season, averaging 10.7 a game), Jessica Justice (71 aces averaging 3.5 a game and 462 assists, averaging 23.1 a game) and Jordan Justice (316 season digs, averaging 15.8 per game).
“This has been a good year so far; but hopefully we are not done yet,” Davis said. “ Amy, Jessica, and Jordan have been our stat leaders all year and a big part of this team. However, Veronica Bausom and senior co-captain Katie Reinhard have been our team leaders on and off the court.”
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