Lady Bulldogs take 2nd seed to district volleyball tournament

By Hunter Brooks

UCA Sportswriting

The St. Joseph volleyball team will be the No. 2 seed when the 3A-Central District Tournament starts today at Harding Academy. 

The second seed gives the Lady Bulldogs an automatic bye to Tuesday’s semifinal (and with it an automatic berth to next week's Class 3A State Tournament). St. Joseph will play against the winner of third-seeded Conway Christian in its first match against the No. 6 and 7 teams. Atkins secured the top seed for the tournament and also has a bye to the semis.

St. Joseph finished the regular season 14-5 overall, 11-3 in conference play.

Coach Luke Davis said the team was looking forward to the district tournament.

“The team tried to get better all week in practice,” he said. “They’re trying to stay motivated because we want to go to the state tournament. The girls want to be one of those 16 teams that have a chance to win it all in the end.”

The Lady Bulldogs finished third in last year’s district tournament, thus drawing a No. 2 seed in the state tournament. Bergman prevailed in the first-round match, 25-17, 22-25, 21-25, 25-19, 15-6.

Davis said he changed up practice to prepare the Lady Bulldogs for what they will see in the post-season.

 “I brought in some older players this week to play against the current team,” Davis said. "We play against the junior varsity team almost daily, so this was a way they get in some different competition. The older girls hit pretty hard and kept the current ones on their toes.”

Should St. Joseph win Tuesday, it will play in the championship later that day. If the Lady Bulldogs lose, they would play against the loser of the other semifinal match in a consolation match to determine seeding for the state tournament.

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