St. Vincent volleyball claims third place in comeback fashion

St. Vincent with their trophy after defeating Hermann in the Class 3 third-place game on November. 9.

Photo Courtesy of Carrie Trovillion - Freelance Photographer

On Saturday afternoon, the St. Vincent Indians girls volleyball defeated the Hermann Bearcats 3-2 to win third place in the Class 2 State Tournament at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

After going down two sets to none, hope looked lost for the Indians but St. Vincent scraped out wins in sets three and four to force a tiebreaking set five. Set one was a large margin of victory for the Bearcats at 25-14 but St. Vincent made set two close before ultimately losing 25-21. Indians head coach Darren Verseman said the message to his team was simple, “don’t give up.’’

“It didn't change much from when we walked into the gym. We just have to continue to fight. We had had success here and there in the first two, it’s not like we got boat race out of the thing,” Verseman said. “We scrapped for long points and would lose that long rally, but the fight was there. After the first two, we were able to avoid the long rallies and if we got in one, we won some of them. The most important thing is no one gave up.”

After losing in straight sets in the semifinal, Verseman said his team had never felt lower than they did then. The Indians took those feelings and brought them into their game today, completing a reverse sweep and finishing the highest they have since 2014. Verseman said the resiliency of his team was on full display.

“They couldn't have been any lower than yesterday, not at all. I really kind of went at them a little bit hard in the locker room about not allowing this to ruin the whole weekend,” Verseman said. “Yes, it’s disappointing, but you've got a chance to win the last game of the season, only two teams get to do that in Class 2. Don't let that opportunity go by just being sad and down and they responded better than ever.”

The Indians graduate just two starters so it is not too farfetched to ask if they will be back at this point next year. If St. Vincent has it their way, not only will they be back, but they will take the first place with them.