Perryville, St. Vincent cap VB season with milestone moments

Perryville's Ana Moll (16) and Jewel Riney (4) dive to save the ball in the fourth set against St. Vincent on Thursday, Oct. 12, in the Perry Park Center in Perryville, Mo.

Jacob Blassingame ~ Special to the Southeast Missourian

Anytime a player, especially a senior, reaches a career milestone during the regular season, it is a boost for the status of the volleyball program and the spirit of the team.

Perryville defeated rival St. Vincent in five sets on Thursday, Oct. 12, at the Perry Park Center in Perryville, Mo. In the process, senior Ana Moll set the school career record for digs with 857 thanks to a career-high 35 digs against the Indians.

"It feels really good," Moll said. "Of course, I did it for the team. I don't want to play for myself. I mainly wanted to do it for my team. It was a good motivator and goal to set for myself."

The Pirates had a roller-coaster regular season this year. They took first place in the Woodland Invitational at the start of the season and recently went 2-1-1 in the Perryville Tournament. However, the Pirates had only nine wins going into the rivalry game and are approaching a tough Class 3 District 2 Tournament starting with a matchup against Potosi.

"It was a big game so we were going in with confidence," Moll said. "We wanted to really get this one. We have one more regular season game left before districts and I feel this win is a great way to go into that."

St. Vincent senior Emersyn Pitts recently eclipsed 200 kills on the season during a three-set win over East Prairie on Tuesday at home. In the process, she got her 500th career kill during an Oct. 2 match against Woodland.

It was a milestone that her teammates wanted her to get almost as much as she wanted.

"They really wanted me to get it," Pitts said. “the 500 was really one of the things I've been looking forward to since my freshman year.”

With the loss, the Indians came up a game short of their mission of having a winning regular season. They do have 12 wins for the second straight season.

The Indians have a chance to win their third straight district tournament. St. Vincent opens the Class 1 District 4 Tournament as the No. 1 seed awaiting the winner of the Oct. 17 matchup between St. Paul Lutheran and host Brentwood.

Pitts' outside hitting could be what gets the Indians back to the state tournament.

"To have somebody on the outside, on the left side, that you can really count on to bang away, that's a big deal," St. Vincent coach Darren Verseman said. "A lot of times we haven't had that in the past and it's tough. If you don't handle the ball just right, it's hard to get it to the middles. You can always throw it to the left side. Having somebody out there you can count on, put a good swing on, that's very important."