De Soto ends Hunters' season behind powerful attack

By MATT KING
Daily Journal Sports Writer

DE SOTO — A thrilling victory over heavily-favored De Soto in the Class 3, District 2 championship match propelled the Ste. Genevieve volleyball team to its remarkable fourth-place finish at the state tournament last year.

The Lady Dragons were clearly focused on returning the favor Wednesday night, and utilized a relentless attack on their home floor to overpower the Hunters 25-19, 25-9, collecting their sixth all-time district crown.

De Soto senior Shelby Cable quickly became the dominant offensive force from the left-outside position, slamming eight of her 10 kills during game one.  She also jump-served three aces and posted a team-high eight digs.

Ste. Genevieve (20-12) earned numerous points on aggressive serving and hitting errors by the Lady Dragons, but excellent court coverage in the early going extended several of those winning rallies.

The Hunters grabbed a 6-5 advantage following kills from sophomore Elle Korenak and junior Anna Sedgwick, and later erased two three-point deficits to pull even at 17-17 on a net violation.

Cable pounded the longest exchange of the night down the line after De Soto was denied on sparkling digs by Laura Rhodes and Korenak, and two tipped kills from Madeline Ketcherside helped the hosts capture game one.

Ketcherside continued her strong play at the net with three blocks, and also served three aces during a dominant second stanza. Molly DeClue ripped an athletic dig from Kinsley Fitzpatrick deep for a healthy 13-5 lead.

Problems with serve receiving prevented the third-seeded Hunters from gathering any momentum for a comeback after earlier outlasting Perryville 22-25, 25-16, 25-18 just to reach the district final.

Senior Liz Huck contributed four kills while Gwen Dallas made seven digs and Emily Schwent tallied six assists for Ste. Genevieve, which entered the match as the lone volleyball team standing from the MAAA Conference.

Macy Lawrence dished out 17 assists and DeClue chipped in four kills for De Soto (34-1), which will host a sectional showdown against Cape Notre Dame (32-4) on Saturday afternoon.