Volleyball

Each year the Semoball Awards recognizes outstanding high school athletes from around the region. That tradition continues Saturday albeit in a different format due to the lingering COVID-19 concerns and social distancing requirements.

Missouri Bootheel native Laiken Duncan has had a lifelong dream to be a head volleyball coach. “I’ve played volleyball since a young age,” Duncan said. “I’ve always loved the sport and wanted to be a head coach.” Duncan will receive her first head coaching opportunity later this fall. Duncan was recently named the new varsity volleyball coach at Delta C-7 High School in Deering, Missouri, for the 2020-21 school year...

Allison Hoffmann has been involved with the Senath-Hornersville Lions volleyball program for close to a decade. “I played for my mom in high school,” said Allison, who is a 2016 graduate of Senath-Hornersville. “I’ve always enjoyed my time at Senath-Hornersville. They are always so good to their students.”...

The coronavirus pandemic has altered the 2020 Semoball Awards into a production like never before, as the event will be conducted as a “virtual” event on Facebook Live on July 11 at 7 p.m. instead of a live show that the sports fans throughout Southeast Missouri have grown accustomed to through the years.

ORAN, Mo. — Becoming successful in athletics takes hard work and dedication, along with time and commitment. For multiple sports, it takes even more. Oran senior and three-sport athlete Kaylee Payne showed what all four characteristics lead to after a successful athletic year with the Lady Eagles, earning her the 2020 Standard-Democrat Girls Athlete of the Year...

Each year the Semoball Awards recognizes outstanding high school athletes from around the region. That tradition continues this summer albeit in a different format because of lingering COVID-19 concerns and social distancing requirements.

Prior to her high school athletic career being cut a season short due to the coronavirus pandemic, Scott City senior Heather Conaway achieved a lot of success both individually, as well as helping the Rams succeed as a team.

For the first time since 2015 the Malden Green Wave volleyball program will have a new leader at the helm. The Malden Board of Education hired Alex Glover as its new varsity volleyball coach at its most recent meeting. Glover will also teach physical education and serve as the middle school volleyball coach at Malden...

The truth of the matter is, from an athletic standpoint, the 2019-20 school year at Cape Central will forever be remembered as the “year of the coronavirus.”

Malden volleyball coach Brittany Crane has watched senior Haven Wills develop as a volleyball player since her freshman season. “I’ve coached Haven since she was a freshman,” Crane said. “She absolutely loves volleyball. She’s always focused on volleyball in her spare time. I think it’s great she’s going to have the opportunity to play at the collegiate level after all the hard work she has put in.”...

Leopold High School senior volleyball standout Kyla Beel recently signed to play next fall at Jefferson Community College.

Shortly after being hired in 2017 as Jackson High School’s new varsity volleyball coach but before his first season with the Indians, Dave Mirly went to see the Tribe’s junior high team play. He saw an athletic 8th grader, Hannah Shinn, who possessed a great attitude. Mirly also saw something he thought he could fix about her game.

The Southeast Missourian coverage area did not lack for quality volleyball during the 2019 season.

There is rarely a shortage of excellent athletic performances throughout Southeast Missouri by high school athletes each year and the fall season in 2019 was no exception.

Good Sports is a weekly feature appearing in the Southeast Missourian and online at Semoball.com. It profiles the life of a person connected to sports and allows readers the opportunity to know the people who are impacting athletics throughout Southeast Missouri in a deeper way. Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity...

Cape Central volleyball player Marisa Lanzotti signed a letter of intent to play volleyball at Webster University beginning next fall.

Good Sports is a weekly feature appearing in the Southeast Missourian and online at Semoball.com. It profiles the life of a person connected to sports and allows readers the opportunity to know the people who are impacting athletics throughout Southeast Missouri in a deeper way. Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity...

Multiple members of the Kennett volleyball program are taking home postseason awards. Kennett senior Melena Green is the SEMO South Division Conference Player of the Year and Setter of the Year. Green recorded 171 kills, 288 assists, 214 digs, 75 aces, and 204 points serving her senior season...

PORTAGEVILLE, Mo. — Portageville’s Jauslyn Johnson earned a spot on the Class 2, District 1 All-District Second Team, and made the Bootheel All-Conference team last week. Johnson was the only Bulldog to earn a spot on the All-Conference team. Campbell swept the major awards for the conference. Gentry Vancil won Coach of the Year, while Anna Beth Vancil won Player of the Year...

SIKESTON — Sikeston’s Alivia Cobb garnered some more awards last week, as the Class 4, District, and SEMO Conference teams got announced. Cobb earned the SEMO Conference North Defensive Player of the Year after setting the single-season record for digs in her senior season. She also earned a spot on the first-team as well...

The 2019 Tri-County Conference volleyball awards have been released. Clarkton senior Kayla Gentry is the 2019 Tri-County Conference Volleyball Player of the Year. Gentry finished with 36 ace serves, 188 digs, 22 assists, nine blocks, and 254 kills her senior season...

The 2019 Bootheel Conference volleyball awards have been released. Campbell junior Anna Beth Vancil is the 2019 Bootheel Conference Player of the Year. “I’m very excited about being chosen for the award and honored that the other coaches selected me as Conference Player of the Year,” Anna Beth Vancil said. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.”...

Notre Dame swimmer Drew Barber and Holcomb volleyball player Bailey Cupples were voted the male and female Semoball Athletes of the Week, respectively, in balloting that concluded Wednesday night. Barber, who collected 423 votes, set three school at the MICDS Invitational swim meet. The junior set individual records in the 50 and 100 freestyles, winning the former, and was a member of the victorious record-setting 200 freestyle relay team...

The St. Vincent cross country team had all of its members finish in the Top 30 in both gender divisions with the boys winning the title and the girls taking third place to highlight the Class 2 District 1 meet on Saturday at Notre Dame Regional High School.

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. - The Holcomb Hornets volleyball program’s most successful playoff run in school history ended a victory shy of a birth in the Class 1 state semifinals Saturday at Bloomfield High School. Holcomb outlasted Crystal City 27-25, 25-21 to secure its first state sectional win in school history Saturday afternoon before falling to defending state champion Advance 25-10, 25-4 in a state quarterfinal Saturday night...

Mackenzie Stoner and Piper Guilliams have seen this story unfold before. The two lone seniors on the Jackson volleyball team were a part of the program in each of the last two years -- years the Indians' seasons ended in the district championship match to Farmington...

Notre Dame swimmer Nicholas Hux and Meadow Heights volleyball player Gracie Cook were voted the male and female Semoball Athletes of the Week, respectively, in balloting that concluded Wednesday night. Hux, who collected 199 votes, won the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly and swam a leg on the winning 200 freestyle relay at a quad meet last week, and also won the 500 freestyle in another quad meet...

MALDEN — A year after winning just one match, the Twin Rivers volleyball team is headed to the state playoffs. The second-seeded Royals outlasted the fifth-seeded Senath-Hornersville 25-19, 25-22 in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 championship at Malden High School on Wednesday...

MALDEN, Mo. - Senath-Hornersville volleyball coach Alex Glover was confident her squad was ready to make noise in Class 2, District 1 even after it received the No. 5 seed in the seven-team tournament “I knew we could make a run in this tournament,” Glover said...

MARBLE HILL, Mo. – Woodland volleyball coach Melissa Rinacke had a message for her Cardinal players Tuesday as the hours passed by leading up to the Class 2 District 2 volleyball tournament. “It’s just another day at the office,” Johnson repeated.

HOLCOMB, Mo. - The Holcomb Hornets volleyball squad spent its fair share of time hammering accurate serves over the net in the mornings leading up to Tuesday’s Class 1, District 1 title game. “Coach Casper has been working really hard with us to make sure we get our serves over,” Holcomb junior Bailey Cupples said. “We’ve spent the entire first hour serving over and over and over.”...

The Advance Hornets, in the words of senior middle hitter Roz Schrader, are "on a mission" to repeat as Class 1 state volleyball champions. On their home court Tuesday, the Hornets defeated Leopold in straight sets, 25-11, 25-20, to win the District 3 championship...

BLOOMFIELD — As the fourth seed, the Bloomfield volleyball team was one of only two in the seven-team district with a losing record. The Wildcats finished the MSHSAA Class 1 District 2 without dropping a set and claiming the title for a sixth straight year following a 25-23, 25-13 win over Campbell...

DEXTER, Mo. - The No. 1 seeded Perryville Pirates denied the No. 4 seeded Kennett Indians their 20th win of the season Tuesday. Perryville beat Kennett 25-11, 25-13 in a Class 3, District 1 semifinal at Dexter High School. The Indians couldn’t string much together, scoring no more than two straight points...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- It was all but fitting that two rivals took the court in the first round of the Class 4, District 1 Tournament on Monday evening. Both the Sikeston and Cape Central volleyball teams know each others' strengths and weaknesses -- and entering the third meeting between the two schools this season -- there was more than just bragging rights on the table...

DEXTER, Mo. - The Kennett Indians volleyball squad spent the weekend preparing to take on the Fredericktown Blackcats in its district tournament. “We’ve been excited about this game,” Kennett coach Taylor Miller said. “We came in and practiced Sunday. We got some swings in and practiced our plays.”...

The Leopold volleyball team downed two familiar foes in straight sets during the opening night of the Class 1 District 3 Tournament at Advance High School on Monday to set up a collision course with the top-seeded hosts...

Class 2, District 1 at Malden The district championship is set at the Class 2, District 1 volleyball tournament following quarterfinal at semifinal action Monday. No. 2 seeded Twin Rivers will take on No. 5 seeded Senath-Hornersville in the title game Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Malden...

The Eagle Ridge Christian School varsity volleyball team won the MCSAA (Missouri Christian School Athletic Association) State Tournament. in Joplin, Mo. Saturday.

Volleyball squads throughout the Missouri Bootheel begin postseason play Monday. Holcomb, South Pemiscot, Southland, North Pemiscot, Hayti, Delta C-7, and Cooter are in Class 1, District 1 at Holcomb. Defending champion Holcomb has received the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye...

Gracie Cook hammered 10 kills as the Meadow Heights volleyball team posted its 12th consecutive win of the season in its 25-16, 17-25, 25-10 victory over St. Paul Lutheran (Farmington) on Friday in both teams' regular-season finale...

Paige Glueck posted a double-double with 14 kills and 27 digs and also had nine assists as Oak Ridge got past Grandview (Hillsboro) 22-25, 26-24, 25-18 in high school volleyball action Thursday. It was both team's regular-season finale.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Needing to win four games in as many hours to claim the SEMO Conference Tournament, the Poplar Bluff volleyball team fell in the final Thursday night. The Mules reached the final for the first time by winning consecutive three-set matches before falling to top-seeded Jackson 25-10, 25-18 at the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Kennett varsity volleyball team took home the top prize in the silver bracket and finished fifth overall Thursday at the SEMO Conference volleyball tournament in Cape Girardeau. Poplar Bluff beat Kennett 25-23, 19-25, 25-15 in a gold bracket quarterfinal...

Dexter's Carter Dorton and Clarkton's Taylor Earnheart were voted the male and female Semoball athlete of the Week, respectively, in online voting that concluded Wednesday night. Dorton, who had 498 votes, had a second-place finish at the Stoddard County Activities Association Conference cross country meet and broke the school record with a time of 17 minutes, 34 seconds with a 10th-place finish at the Farmington Invitational. ...

The Notre Dame boys swimming team took first place team honors at the Bubble pool Wednesday in its senior night quad event. Bulldogs senior Nicholas Hux took first place in two invidual events -- 50 freestyle and 100 buttefly -- and swam a leg on the winning 200 freestyle relay team...

MALDEN, Mo. - Holcomb volleyball coach Matt Casper placed an increased emphasis on blocking after his squad suffered a 25-16, 25-19 loss to Portageville Monday night. “We talked about how bad our blocking was after last night,” Casper said. “We put an emphasis on getting in a better position to block. Our girls made the adjustments and it paid dividends tonight.”...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Pool play was not pleasant for the Sikeston volleyball team on Tuesday. The first day of the SEMO Conference Volleyball Tournament kicked off at the Cape SportsPlex in Cape Girardeau. 10 teams, split into two divisions, made up the tournament. In the North Division was Jackson, Notre Dame, Cape Central, Poplar Bluff, and Sikeston, while the South Division comprised of Scott City, Oran, New Madrid County Central (NMCC), Kennett, and Charleston...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Kennett Indians varsity volleyball team finished first in SEMO South Division pool play Tuesday at Cape Girardeau SportsPlex in Cape Girardeau. Kennett won seven of the eights sets it played in pool play. Kennett beat Charleston 25-18, 25-14; Kennett beat New Madrid County Central 25-17, 25-9; Kennett beat Oran 25-14, 25-23; and Kennett split Scott City 26-24, 25-27...