St. Teresa’s wins playoff, advances to volleyball state finals

After the opening set of the Missouri Class 4 volleyball state tournament, St. Teresa’s Academy coach Lauren Mathewson worried nerves were playing a factor in the Stars’ chances.

Several hours later, the nerves were gone.

And the Stars are marching on.

St. Teresa’s defeated Ozark 25-21 in a one-set playoff late Friday to clinch a spot in the Class 4 championship match at the Show-Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

St. Teresa’s will face four-time defending state-champion Lafayette (Wildwood) at 6 p.m. Saturday.

“In the Ozark match, we talked about just trying to stay loose and play aggressive, and that’s exactly what they did,” Mathewson said. “In a pressure situation like that, that’s what let us pull it out.”

St. Teresa’s Academy is aiming for its first volleyball state championship since 2006.

Class 3

Pleasant Hill and St. Pius X were unable to advance out of pool play, and they will meet in the Missouri Class 3 third-place match at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Pleasant Hill, which entered the Class 3 Final Four with only two losses this season, opened pool play Friday with a sweep against St. Pius X (25-19, 28-26). Paige Johnson and Logan Gish each recorded seven kills for Pleasant Hill. But after the Roosters were swept by Villa Duchesne in their second match, they needed a sweep against St. Pius X of Festus to advance to the championship. Instead, they split the two sets — winning the first, 27-25, before falling 25-22 in the second.

St. Pius X was swept in all three matches Friday.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 11:51 PM with the headline "St. Teresa’s wins playoff, advances to volleyball state finals."