Lady Bulldogs look to carry momentum into state volleyball tourney

By Wynrick Smothers

UCA Sportswriting

After winning the 3A-Central District Tournament last week, the St. Joseph Lady Bulldogs are going into the Class 3A State Volleyball Tournament motivated.

St. Joseph (18-6), the top seed from the Central, will open state tournament play at Harrison Parks and Recreation on Tuesday at noon against Hoxie, fourth from the Northeast.

Luke Davis' Lady Bulldogs finished their regular season strong and carried that momentum into the district tournament, where they beat their conference nemesis, Atkins, in the final to take the No. 1 seed heading into the state tournament.

The Central Conference was a pretty tough one, but Davis knows that there will be tougher tasks once state begins.

“It’s usually the West and the Northeast; they are usually the stronger conferences,” he said.

He said St. Joseph would match up pretty well with the other teams in the field, and the Lady Bulldogs know if they can keep up the type of play they showcased throughout the majority of the regular season, they will be just fine.

“If we can play like we did in the district tournament, we’ll have a chance,” he said. “They played real well together and everybody contributed, so that’s what we are going to need. We can’t rely on one person to carry us. We are going to need all of them.”

A win over Hoxie would put the Lady Bulldogs in Wednesday's 4 p.m. quarterfinal. Semifinals are set for Thursday with the state finals to be played at Russellville on Saturday, Nov. 2. The Class 3A State Tournament is being hosted by Alpena.

All in all, he said he was pleased with his team's play to this point. But he wants to make sure his team does better than last year, when they lost to Bergman in the opening round.

“I’m definitely proud of the girls,” he said. “We talked about doing better than we did last year; we had a better record, we finished better in conference, and we finished better in the district tournament. They definitely improved and worked hard, so I’m proud of them for that.”

The Lady Bulldogs closed the regular season Thursday with a non-conference loss to Class 5A Sylvan Hills after the conclusion of the district tournament, 25-23, 25-17, 23-25, 25-22, 15-11.

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