Jackson volleyball dominates conference tournament, wins sixth straight

Jackson poses with the trophy after winning the SEMO Conference Volleyball tournament on October 3 at the Cape Girardeau Sportsplex in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

Photo Courtesy of Carrie Trovillion - Freelance Photographer

The SEMO Conference volleyball tournament trophy will not travel for another year as the Jackson Indians ran through the competition to win their sixth consecutive championship.

The number one seed Indians defeated New Madrid County Central, Notre Dame and Dexter en route to the championship with none of the matches being particularly close. Jackson head coach David Mirly said this is a tournament his team wants to win every season.

“For the players it's just so rewarding to win the conference tournament again because it's bragging rights and we get to bring the big trophy back to our house, it’s something that they really want every single year,” Mirly said. “Especially the seniors, they came out and they really wanted it this year, and they played some great volleyball, the whole team played some great volleyball.”

All 12 teams in the tournament are semoball.com teams so the results of the other schools are as follows:

Dexter Bearcats - 2nd place

Notre Dame Bulldogs - 3rd place

Cape Central Tigers - 4th place

Saxony Lutheran Crusaders and Scott City Rams - 5th place

New Madrid County Central Eagles and Poplar Bluff Mules - 7th place

Charleston Blue Jays - 9th place

Sikeston Bulldogs - 10th place

Kennett Indians - 11th place

Oran Eagles - 12th place

The area teams will have about two and a half weeks of regular season remaining before district play begins as early as October 22. Each coach can agree with Mirly when he said everyone is hitting their stride at this point in the season and is almost ready for postseason play.

“We came out ready to play every single point, and that's just the growth and maturity that this group has made all season long. They keep getting better and better, it's towards the end of the season and now we're starting to play our best volleyball,” Mirly said. “It was great to see everyone get a chance to play tonight. We showed that it doesn't matter which girls are out there, they're all gonna be great.”