How sweet it is! Lady Lions take down Malden for district title

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Senath-Hornersville's Megan Smith (center) receives the Class 2, District 1 championship plaque as her teammates celebrate winning the district title over the Malden Lady Wave Tuesday at Senath. [Click to enlarge]

SENATH, Mo. -- The only thing better than having a storybook season is having a storybook ending to it.

The Senath-Hornersville Lady Lions got their happy ending here Tuesday night, getting past the Malden Lady Wave 25-22, 25-15 in the championship game of the Class 2, District 1 Tournament.

It is the first volleyball district title for the Lady Lions (23-7-1) in the history of the school.

Staff photo by Mike Buhler Senath-Hornersville basketball player Michael Gardner celebrates the Lady Lions' volleyball team's district title after Tuesday's win over Malden at Senath. [Click to enlarge]

"This is the first district championship that Senath-Hornersville has won ever," Senath-Hornersville coach Lori Hoffmann said. "It's great to win. The girls were pumped, ready to go and that's what I like to see."

The win is also sweet for a talented Lady Lions senior class that has came close to winning the big game several games, but finally broke through on Tuesday.

"To win districts my senior year -- I can't tell you how excited I am," senior Megan Smith said.

Senath-Hornersville had to earn its district crown, however.

The Lady Lions led 17-13 in the opening set and seemed to have the momentum, but Malden ran off five straight points to take an 18-17 lead.

Jami Jackson registered a kill to tie the score at 18-all, but the Lady Wave scored three straight to go up 21-18 and get in a position to take the set.

However, Jackson refused to let her team lose, getting a block and a kill on back-to-back plays to fuel a 5-0 run to put Senath-Hornersville ahead for good.

"She's been a very big (factor) in our team," said senior McKenzie Harris of Jackson. "She gets us up when we're down. She's going to be great."

In the second set, the Lady Lions raced out to a 17-7 lead and led 22-10 late in the set, but Malden did not go away, running off three straight points to get within nine before Senath-Hornersville pulled it out.

"(Malden) came out ready to play," said Hoffmann. "We couldn't just go out there and mess around -- we had to play. It took some work to get past that first set. The second set wasn't easy. They started to make a comeback on us and we pulled through it."

Jackson led the way up front Tuesday with eight kills and five blocks, while Smith added five kills and five blocks of her own.

"I had a good team behind me and Jami was fabulous tonight," said Smith. "We all played our hearts out. We couldn't have done it without each and every person on my team."

Said Hoffmann: "The hitters did great," Hoffmann said. "Our outside hitters came up and they played great also. We had some big blocks when we needed them."

Smith also credits setters Harris and Mallory Fritz for her and Jackson's strong games Tuesday.

"They are amazing," Smith said. "McKenzie had a broken hand and pulled through, came and fought it out. She set perfectly and so did Mallory."

Hoffmann echoed her player's sentiments.

"The setters did a great job again," said Hoffmann. "They got the ball set up so we could get some kills down."

The Lady Lions will head to Piedmont for a sectional game against top-ranked Scott City Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

"They're going to be a tough team," Hoffmann said. "We're going to have to go out there and play our best game."

Class 3, District 1
Notre Dame def. Kennett
At Dexter, Notre Dame defeated the Lady Indians 25-11, 25-11 in the semifinals on the way to its seventh district title in eight years.

"Notre Dame plays great defense," Kennett coach Laura Ort said. "We worked hard defensively, we had some digs -- we just had a hard time getting the ball to our hitters. When we did, they played great defense against us."

Morgan Pickens led the way with four kills and a block, while Audrey Wynne added three kills and one block, Ciara Dewrock and Taylor Wake each had three kills while Chrisie Burrow passed for 11 assists.

It was the last game for five Kennett seniors -- Dewrock, Wake, Burrow, Jody Vancil and Mallory Brown.

"This group of girls were freshmen when I came to Kennett," said Ort. "They worked hard. They are very coachable kids and I can't ask them to be better leaders or to care about the volleyball program more than these girls."