Oakville, SLUH, St. Mary's ready for state tournament action
Jr. Bills, Dragons seek defense of 2007 titles; Tigers eye revenge
The Dragons were to face Parkway Central in the quarterfinals Tuesday night, after Journal press time, with the winner advancing to face Westminster or Kirkwood in the semifinals immediately after. Finals for both classes are tomorrow evening at Kirkwood, beginning at 6 p.m.
"I'm unbelievably proud of my boys," said Oakville coach Morgan Lucas. "Most people didn't give us much respect, nobody really thought Oakville was going to make it this far at the beginning of the season. But they've just done an excellent job playing well as a team. I think, at 24-3, our record says it all."That 2008 record was just one part of a trifecta of preseason goals set by the squad: obtaining 20 wins and grabbing a district championship has already been achieved. All that's left is to make it a bit deeper in the state playoffs, after a first-round loss in 2007.
It's certainly within the Tigers' grasp. Tonight the squad matches up against Fox (15-11), who upset CBC at its own district tournament over the weekend. Oakville beat Fox in three games on May 1.
Beyond Fox, however, for Oakville to advance to Thursday's final, they'll likely have to take down the juggernaut Jr. Billikens, the very squad who ended the Tigers' season in 2007. SLUH also defeated Oakville in two games in April, and will face Howell North (17-8) tonight at 5:15.
SLUH, of course, returns to the state playoffs in defense of its 2007 crown. Despite a thinning of last year's roster thanks to graduation, the Jr. Bills have lost just eight total games all season and are primed for a repeat.
"It's definitely on our minds, we've talked about for most of the year," said SLUH coach Paul Scovill. "The kids are looking to try and get a second (title) in a row for us, which would be the third year in a row in the finals after losing to Vianney two years ago."
Led by hitters Anthony (Pete) Hock, an area leader in kills (4.7 per game) and aces (44; 0.73 per game) and Mike Adams (3.4 kills per game, 0.83 aces per game), as well as setter John Swanston, SLUH's district win was a proper rebound after being shocked in three games by DeSmet just before the regular season's end. If anything, Scovill says the recent loss sobered the Jr. Bills to what they need to do to have another shot at a repeat. It showed over the weekend.
"I think it made us refocus just a little more," Scovill said. "Earlier we had problems with serving, in that first game (to DeSmet) we had eight service errors and lost the game by two points. We practiced Friday and sized up a few adjustments we needed to make in certain aspects of the game, tings we took away from that DeSmet match.
"Things went according to plan (over the weekend). We actually served and passed a little better than we have been. Hopefully we've turned a corner from that, and hopefully it will continue this week."
St. Mary's, too, returns in defense of a 2007 title, but has eyes on a three-peat this time around. Senior hitter Ryan Humiston is fully recovered from a broken hand at the start of the season, and turned it on at districts on Friday, tallying 43 kills and 3 aces on the day, including a 13 kill effort over Seckman.
Another shot at glory, however, wouldn't be complete without a bit of adversity for the Dragons: defensive specialist Mitch Seebach, averaging over 7 digs a game, did not appear on Friday and will not be available this week due to personal problems. On top of that, the Dragons' number-one middle, Mark Stuckel, has a hurt shoulder that will relegate him to back-row duties and usher in first-year player Joe Bennette.
St. Mary's is looking for big things out of Humiston this week.
"He's peaking at the right point," said St. Mary's coach Johnny Chittakhone. "Going through district, he did real well, had several key plays that helped us take the first seed out of districts. Hopefully he steps up his game another notch."
