Undefeated Season?

Posted Monday, October 17, 2011, at 2:55 AM

It doesn't happen often.

Only three times since 1975 and once in the last 16 years

Eight semoball schools -- Scott City, Bell City, Leopold, Bernie, Woodland, Bloomfield, Zalma and Clearwater -- have combined for 18 state titles in high school volleyball since 1975.

The 1987 Clearwater Tigers, 1992 Bloomfield Wildcats and 1995 Bernie Mules are the only semoball teams to finish with undefeated seasons during this stretch.

The 2011 Scott City Rams remain undefeated with two games to play in the regular-season. Scott City will host Cape Central Tuesday and state-ranked Perryville Wednesday before beginning Class 2 postseason play next week.

Scott City is currently ranked No. 1 in Class 2 and has a legitimate chance to win its second state title in three seasons.

One has to wonder if the Rams will indeed run the table and finish 2011 perfect.

See all semoball schools that have won state championships in volleyball since 1975 below (records taken from MSHSAA record book)

Year	Class	School	Record	Coach
1984	Class 2	Clearwater	25-3	Carmen Shaffer
1987	Class 2	Clearwater	30-0-1	Carmen Shaffer
1988	Class 2	Clearwater	30-1	Carmen Shaffer
1989	Class 2	Clearwater	26-4-2	Carmen Shaffer
1990	Class 1	Zalma	30-2	Carl Ritter Jr.
1992	Class 2	Bloomfield	34-0	Barbara Dalton
1993	Class 1	Leopold	29-6	Greg Nenninger
1994	Class 1	Bernie	33-1	Bill Zoll
1994	Class 2	Woodland	28-4	Johnna Weiter
1995	Class 1	Bernie	36-0	Bill Zoll
1996	Class 1	Bell City	33-3-2	Carl Ritter Sr.
1996	Class 2	Bernie	37-1-1	Bill Zoll
1997	Class 1	Leopold	28-4-2	Greg Nenninger
1998	Class 1	Bernie	39-1-2	Bill Zoll
1999	Class 1	Bernie	36-2-2	Bill Zoll
2002	Class 1	Leopold	34-2-3	Leanne Huffman
2003	Class 1	Bell City	26-9-1	Erin Hoffman
2009	Class 2	Scott City	36-3-1	Haley Jennings

State Championships by School since 1975:

Bernie - 5

Clearwater - 4

Leopold - 3

Bell City - 2

Scott City, Bloomfield, Woodland and Zalma - 1

Note: Feel free to point out any errors in the team records. Records were taken from a 2008 MSHSAA record book.

Comments
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Yes! Larger schools have many more sports to offer...I have seen many good Junior High volleyball players from big schools choose another sport once they get to the 9th grade. I'm sure many large school VB coaches would love to have some of those players in HS. Even if it's only 1 or 2 players a year, that could make a huge difference. But it is what it is unfortunately. And then on the other hand, the coaches from the other sports would be in the position of wishing they had the player.

So there you have it.

-- Posted by alittleclarity on Thu, Oct 20, 2011, at 10:25 AM

alittleclarity

It also seems to be interesting there were many more state champions in the 1990s.

The larger schools have more than just volleyball. They offer other sports in the fall. Granted the larger schools in St. Louis also offer more sports in the fall. Private schools tend to dominate Class 3 and Class 4 and southeast Missouri has only one private school in these classes.

-- Posted by Dustin Ward on Wed, Oct 19, 2011, at 1:29 PM

It seems a bit interesting to me that all State title holders from the area come from within either Class 1 or Class 2. And only twice did we hold both classes.

I guess it may be because in Class 3 there are very few schools in SEMO and even fewer in Class 4. Perhaps in Class 3 and 4 the next level after districts vs. St. Louis schools is too tough to handle whereas the Class 1 and 2 schools usually tough it out against each other during the regular season and the district tourneys.

-- Posted by alittleclarity on Wed, Oct 19, 2011, at 12:56 PM

That's correct The Legend. They are still undefeated. It will be interesting to see what happens against Perryville Wednesday night.

-- Posted by Dustin Ward on Mon, Oct 17, 2011, at 12:37 PM

They split with Lesterville in the Crystal City Tournament this weekend. I think their record is 25-0-1 now.

-- Posted by The Legend on Mon, Oct 17, 2011, at 10:05 AM

Dustin Ward

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Dustin Ward has been the sports editor at the Daily Dunklin Democrat in Kennett, Mo., since January 2011.

Ward graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a minor in psychology. He also has 21-hour concentration in environmental science, social studies and education.

Ward started following sports in southeast Missouri when he was five-years-old in 1991. In the 2009-10 basketball season, he watched 84 varsity basketball teams play a total of 147 varsity games. He has also attended the state basketball, baseball and volleyball tournaments the last three seasons. His favorite baseball memory is watching the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Texas Rangers in the 2011 World Series.

Ward completed an internship in the summer of 2010 at semoball.com. During the internship he had the opportunity to visit and photograph the athletic facilities at all 58 semoball schools. He also researched the district and state championship histories of 55 schools and used the Cover it Live application to cover the Senior Babe Ruth state baseball tournament.

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