St. Clair has shown steady signs of improvement as the volleyball season develops.
The Lady Bulldogs (1-7) broke into the win column Tuesday at Kingston and fell short in three games Thursday at home against Cuba.
St. Clair opens Four Rivers Conference action with a match Tuesday at Owensville at 5:30 p.m.
“We’ve had a tough schedule against teams like Potosi, Waynesville and Ste. Genevieve to start the season,” said St. Clair Head Coach Ashley Mims. “The girls are doing a good job working hard. The effort has been there.”
Kingston
St. Clair captured its first win of the season Tuesday at Kingston, 25-21, 23-25, 25-20.
“It felt good to get our first win, like a giant wait has been lifted off our shoulders. Now we can relax more and concentrate on playing volleyball,” Mims said. “We played pretty well against Kingston. We were more motivated to play, which I liked to see.”
St. Clair rallied from behind in the third and deciding game.
“We were down by five or six points in the third set,” Mims said. The girls did a good job coming back and getting the win.”
Emily Rogers finished the match with 18 assists for St. Clair.
Allison Hinson collected nine digs.
Seam Deason led the way at the net with 11 kills and three blocks.
Macy Levvintre smashed six kills. Kayla Klenke added five kills.
Sharon Wagner led the team from the service line.
“We missed only one serve all night,” Mims said. “It was a good effort all the way around. Deason, Hinson and Klenke were very consistent for us.”
Cuba
St. Clair nearly had another comeback Thursday at home against Cuba, but lost the match, 25-13, 22-25, 27-25.
The Lady Bulldogs trailed 24-21 in the third and deciding game, but rallied to tie the score 24-24 and 25-25 before Cuba escaped with the win.
“The girls showed a lot of heart coming back and tying the game 24-24 in the third set,” Mims said. “We need to do a better job at the beginning of our matches. The first set put us in a hole.”
Mims was encouraged by a number of individual performances.
“Allison Hinson did a great job. She’s been a very consistent player for us,” Mims said. “Macy Levvintre had a great game. Our setter, Emily Rogers, always gives us her best effort. Kayla Klenke is becoming more of a leader. Sharon Wagner is doing a good job. Sam Deason always wants the ball and wants to make a play. We had two freshmen play in the front row tonight who both are good competitors. That’s what we want on the team.”
