Historic Gideon VB squad gathers for MSHSAA recognition

Former Gideon High School volleyball players (from left) Hannah Maglisco, Lesley Skinner, Cassie St. Cin, Alizabeth Williams, Nikki Knotts, and Charity Wrather gather for a ceremony recently at the Show Me Center, as MSHSAA recognized the 2004 Bulldog team for its state runner-up finish that season.

Tom Davis ~ TDavis@semoball.com

It is a rare occurrence when a group of Gideon High School volleyball players are gathered with an MSHSAA State Championship being fought for.

Three times in the history of the state tournament a Bulldog squad has competed in the Final Four, and twice Gideon has come thisclose to winning the ultimate prize, only to finish runner-up.

That achievement most recently happened in 2021, but it also happened in 2004, and that group of Bulldog athletes recently gathered to be recognized.

Each fall, at the MSHSAA State Finals, which most recently took part in the Show Me Center, the organization honors the Final Four teams from 20 years prior, and the 2004 Gideon group was recognized this year.

“The game is completely different,” former Bulldog Alizabeth Williams said of today’s rally-scoring game. “But it doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that we played.”

Williams was a junior on that team, which fell to Lockwood 2-0 in the Class 1 championship match. She was joined at this year’s ceremony by teammates Hannah Maglisco, Lesley Skinner, Cassie St. Cin, Nikki Knotts, and Charity Wrather, each of whom still live in Southeast Missouri, with the exception of Maglisco, who now calls Jackson, Tenn. home.

Knotts said that her kids attend Gideon, and she “still bumps into” teammates at Bulldog events.

“But it is very cool to bring my daughter, who is very much involved in volleyball,” Knotts said, “and let her see this and get to experience it.”

Skinner remembers – vaguely – the championship match.

“I remember trying to save a block,” Skinner recalled, “and hitting my head on the floor.”

For the lengthy St. Cin, she was a freshman on that team and was just thrilled to experience the magnitude of playing for the top spot in the state.

“I was a freshman,” St. Cin said, “so it was just the experience for me. I do remember getting to play in a pool play game against Winona. That was a lot of fun to do that, so just to be here for the experience.”

Wrather was the lone senior from that team who attended the ceremony, and she said it wasn’t a smooth journey to greatness for Gideon that season.

“It took a couple of butt-kickings for us to get it together,” Wrather said. “When we came up for a tournament (in Cape Girardeau) and went to Notre Dame (for a match), that was the turning point for Sectionals.”

Once a Bulldog, forever a Bulldog supporter, at least.

The group said that “almost the entire team,” returned in 2021 to cheer on that special team.