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Kennett captures Silver title at SEMO Conference Tournament with win over Scott City
CAPE GIRARDEAU — Consecutive kills helped Kennett close out the first game before Melena Green served up a big lead in the Silver championship match at the SEMO Conference Tournament.
Green collected five aces during a 14-point run to start the second game and the Indians held off a late charge for a 25-22, 25-18 win over Scott City at the Cape SportsPlex on Thursday night.
“Melena served the heck out of the ball tonight,” said Kennett coach Gentry Vancil. “Awesome job by her.”
As the top seed from the South pool, Kennett started the night in the championship quarterfinal with a 25-20, 25-20 loss to Poplar Bluff.
The Indians bounced back to beat Oran 25-14, 25-9 in the consolation semifinal.
Kennett (21-8-1) ended up losing just 2 of 15 sets during the tournament but missed out on a chance to become the first South team to advance to the semifinals under the current format of the tournament that started in 2015.
“That’s where you want to be to get ready for districts, whether it was going to turn out good or bad, either way,” Vancil said.
The Silver championship match started with an ace by Green, but Scott City (8-16-3) put together a 6-1 run and led until Anna Vancil’s kill pulled Kennett even at 12-all.
An ace by Caroline Byers later put the Indians up 19-17 but Liza Dannenmueller answered with consecutive kills to tie the game for the sixth time. Elle Vancil followed with a kill before Caroline Patton won a joust at the net off a serve-receive dig and Green’s tip landed in for a 22-19 lead.
Dannenmueller, who had seven kills, stopped the run and an ace by Lexie Reeves cut the deficit to a point.
Macy New’s kill and another by Anna Vancil gave Kennett the set.
Kennett’s 14-point lead to start the second was trimmed to 20-16 before New’s kill off a back set by Green and Patton followed with one in the middle. The Indians closed out the match with a two more kills.
Patton and Anna Vancil, who teamed up for a pair of blocks, each had five kills while Elle Vancil and New chipped in four year while Green had three.
“Hitting came through for a lot of the girls,” Coach Vancil said. “Moving it around helps a lot too.”
Jersey Black had seven kills along with Dannenmueller for Scott City while Avarie O’Brien added three.
The Rams will face St. Vincent in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 3 semifinals at Saxony Lutheran at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Kennett plays at Dexter against the host Bearcats in the Class 3 District 1 semifinal at 6 p.m. Monday.
“Nice to be here, nice to win,” Coach Vancil said. “Hopefully we learn from this and get ready for next week.”
