Lady Bulldogs Place Fourth at Own Tourney

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St. Clair was one point away from reaching the championship bracket of its own volleyball tournament last Saturday.

Instead, the Lady Bulldogs captured a second-place pool finish and fourth-place honors in the tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs (7-14-1) did not lose a match in the tournament, registering a 3-0-1 record.

“It was a very good tournament for our team,” said St. Clair Head Coach Lane Cox. “It would have been nice to see Pacific and Union in the championship gym, but all in all, it was a very good day.”

During pool play competition, the Lady Bulldogs opened by defeating Bayless 27-25, 25-20.

St. Clair split with Sullivan in its second and final pool play contest, dropping the first game 25-22 and winning the second game 26-24.

Sullivan won the tiebreaker over St. Clair and advanced to the championship bracket.

“When it came down to bracket play, Sullivan advanced to the top bracket by one point,” said Cox. “That put us in the consolation bracket.”

In the consolation bracket, the Lady Bulldogs took on Orchard Farm and Viburnum, two teams that took second place in the other pools.

St. Clair recorded wins over Orchard Farm 25-23, 25-16 and Viburnum 25-17, 25-17.

Cox said it was a total team effort during the tournament for the Lady Bulldogs.

“It’s hard to pick out who played well for us because we played strong as a team,” said Cox. “Our middles, Kayla Klenke and Sam Deason, did a very good job controlling the net. Our libero, Shannon Duncan, and our outside hitter, Sarah Baker, did a great job on defense and serve receive.

“Kayla had four solo blocks and controlled the net very well. She had eight kills throughout the day. Sam also did well in the middle,” said Cox. “Sarah played awesome defense picking up all sorts of tips. Ashley Fuchs and Emily Rogers had a combined total of nine aces. Shannon had a consistent day in the back row covering both corners of the floor. Rogers did a nice job setting and even playing defense with a high total of 12 digs.”