By JASON VIOX\Daily Journal Sports Writer

Published: Thursday, October 21, 2004
Updated: Thursday, October 21, 2004 11:01 AM CDT

PARK HILLS - Day three of the MAAA volleyball tournament held two matches to determine who will play for fifth place. In one of those matches, the Ste. Genevieve Hunters emerged victorious over the Fredericktown Lady Cats for a 25-15, 25-14 victory.

After both teams exchanged a point, Ste. Genevieve quickly struck by scoring five consecutive points for a 6-2 lead. Fredericktown closed the gap by scoring four straight points of their own. The Hunters responded strongly as Brittni Basler served up eight points for a 19-9 lead. After the Lady Cats made one more run of four points, both teams dished out a few points until Ste. Genevieve's Lindsey Palmer drilled a kill to end game one.

Fredericktown took a fast 5-1 lead in game two. The Hunters would respond by scoring four quick points to tie the game. Fredericktown's Tessa Rehkop hammered a kill, which was quickly followed by a kill from Ste. Genevieve's Tyne Schwent. Hunters' Danielle Lindsey scored six service points with an ace to take a demanding lead of 11-6. After the two teams traded points, the Lady Cats made three straight points to narrow the gap. A double block by Hunters' Adrienne Sevier and Lindsay Rhodes stopped the small scoring spree.

The Hunters struck again with four consecutive points after their own double block to extend their lead 18-10. Fredericktown's Deidre Hughes fired a kill down to stop the scoring streak. The two teams battled for points one more time. When the score reached 24-14, a ball hit out by the Lady Cats ended the match in favor of the Hunters.

Ste. Genevieve's coach Dennis Drumm was pleased with his team's offense and victory Wednesday afternoon. "We passed the ball well," stated Drumm. "You can't run your offense unless you pass the ball. We bounced back against a tough loss Tuesday night. That shows a lot of character."

Hughes and Meghan Johnson each had five kills for Fredericktown. Danielle Johnson came up with 10 assists. Hughes made two blocks while Nicki Settlemoir had 20 digs.

Lindsey and Schwent both smashed eight kills for the Hunters. Emily Schmelzle piled up seven assists while Sevier and Bethany Drumm followed with four each.

Ste. Genevieve will play Central for fifth place today.

Central 25-9, 25-11 West County

PARK HILLS - The Central Lady Rebels came out ready to play against the West County Lady Bulldogs Wednesday night, and the final score proved it at 25-9 and 25-11. With the win the Lady Rebels will advance to the tournament's fifth place match.

Central scored five consecutive points for an early 7-2 lead. Both teams traded a few points until the Lady Rebels struck hard and fast as Jessica Moyer served 11 straight points for a 20-5 lead for Central. The last point was scored by Lady Rebel's Nichole Helms with a well-placed tip.

Central's Kristina Holloway scored the first point of game two with a tip, and then she served up eight straight points including three aces for a 9-1 lead. The teams exchanged serves three times before Moyer served out four more points for Central with two aces to extend their lead. While the Lady Rebels scored in bundles of twos and threes, the Lady Bulldogs could not score on their serve.

Lady Rebels coach Tracie Casey was proud of her team's improvement on Wednesday evening. "We came out real relaxed and ready to play," stated Casey. "We watched the tape from Tuesday night's match where we played little-to-no defense. That was our goal, to play good defense."

Moyer and Allison Douglas hammered five kills each for Central, and Chelsea Pinson followed with three. Tausha Petty had eight assists. Jessica Davis came up with six digs and Petty had three. Moyer piled up five aces and Holloway made two.

Central will compete against Ste. Genevieve for fifth place today.