Pleasant Hill reaches final, Liberty North finishes with win: state volleyball scores

The Pleasant Hill High School volleyball team will play for the Missouri Class 3 championship on Friday.

That was guaranteed Thursday with a gutsy five-set victory over Ste. Genevieve in the MSHSAA semifinals at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau.

The Chicks had a battle on their hands against Missouri State-bound kills machine Dru Koetting, who recorded the 1,000th of her career Thursday. But Pleasant Hill (26-8) proved up to the task, downing the Dragons 3-2. The winning scoreline: 26-24, 23-25, 14-25, 25-23, 15-7.

Pleasant Hill will meet Blair Oaks for the championship at noon on Friday at the Show Me Center.

While the Chicks advanced, the Liberty North High School volleyball team ran into a bit of a buzzsaw. After playing their way to the Class 5 final four, the Eagles’ state-championship hopes faded with a 3-1 loss to Lafayette (Wildwood).

Liberty North (31-6) did not go down without a fight. The Eagles dropped the first two sets but battled back in the third, leading Lafayette 14-10 and holding on for a 25-23 victory. That made it 2-1 and set the stage for a close fourth set, which Lafayette won 25-22 to complete a 3-1 semifinal victory.

Liberty North regrouped later Thursday and finished its season with a win, beating St. Dominic 3-1 for the third-place trophy.

Lafayette (31-6) plays Kickapoo in Friday’s 10 a.m. championship match.

In the Class 4 semifinals, Platte County (27-10) fell 3-1 to Westminster Christian in the semifinals but beat Webb City 3-2 for the third-place trophy Thursday night. The Pirates’ winning set-scores for the third-place match: 25-23, 16-25, 22-25, 31-29, 15-11.

Westminster Christian and Incarnate Word, a 3-0 semifinal victor against Webb City, were to play Friday afternoon for the title.

The state volleyball tournaments, Classes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, continue Friday and Saturday at the Show Me Center (some classes conclude with Friday’s finals; others have finals scheduled for Saturday).

High school action still to come this week/weekend — aside from postseason football games and plenty of district-tourney competition in soccer and elsewhere — are the MSHSAA championships for cross country at the Gans Creek course in Columbia.

In Kansas, the state semifinals and finals for boys soccer are taking place Friday and Saturday at three sites: Topeka, Wichita and De Soto, Kan.

MSHSAA Missouri volleyball championships

All matches at the Show Me Center, Cape Girardeau

CLASS 5

Thursday’s semifinal scores

Lafayette (Wildwood) 3, Liberty North 1

Kickapoo 3, St. Dominic 2

Thursday’s third-place match

Liberty North 3, St. Dominic 1

Friday’s championship match

Lafayette vs. Kickapoo, 10 a.m.

CLASS 4

Thursday’s semifinal scores

Westminster Christian 3, Platte County 1

Incarnate Word 3, Webb City 0

Thursday’s third-place match

Platte County vs. Webb City, 8 p.m.

Friday’s championship match

Incarnate Word vs. Westminster Christian, 2 p.m.

CLASS 3

Thursday’s semifinal scores

Pleasant Hill 3, Ste. Genevieve 2

Blair Oaks 3, Eldon 0

Thursday’s third-place match

Ste. Genevieve vs. Eldon, 6 p.m.

Friday’s championship match

Pleasant Hill vs. Blair Oaks, noon

CLASS 2

Friday’s semifinals

Jefferson (Festus) vs. East Buchanan, 6 p.m.

Herman vs. Strafford, 6 p.m.

Saturday’s third-place match: 2 p.m.

Saturday’s championship: 4 p.m.

CLASS 1

Friday’s semifinals

Advance vs. Tarkio/Fairfax, 4 p.m.

Winona vs. Miller, 4 p.m.

Saturday’s third-place match: 10 a.m.

Saturday’s championship: noon

This story was originally published November 3, 2022 at 12:02 PM.