The St. Joseph's Academy volleyball team was the top-ranked public and or private team in the nation in one national pre-season poll conducted by Prepvolleyball.com. It took a while for the Angels to live up to that billing as injuries to top players caused some issues during the season.
First, senior Helen Boyle was injured during the Tournament of Champions at St. Joseph's on Sept. 18. The Angels lost three matches in one day, against ranked teams St. James, (Missouri); Bishop Miege, Kansas City, Kan. and Mercy Academy, Louisville, Ky.
"We certainly had our ups and downs during the season," Coach Karen Davis said. "But in a way it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the injuries gave other girls a chance to step up and they did."
Boyle missed three weeks with a high ankle sprain. Taylor Masterson, a senior and Lauren Gresham, a sophomore also missed time with ankle injures while Natalie Gower, a sophomore missed most of the regular season with a stress fracture in her back.
St. Joe's got healthy when it counted most -- in the post-season. The team would eventually live up to its lofty-early season ranking, winning the Class 4 title in Kansas City Nov. 6. The Angels reached the championship match through pool play against Incarnate Word Academy, Ozark and Lee's Summit West and then won the title contest against Lee's Summit West, 25-19, 31-29.
"We had some challenges but the girls performed very well, both mentally and physically, at the state tournament," said Davis, who won her eighth state title in her 19 years at St. Joe's.
Four-year starters Boyle and Masterson will move on to compete in the rugged Southeastern Conference in college. Boyle will play at Louisiana State University while Masterson will attend the University of Alabama.
Three other Angel seniors will also play college volleyball. Krista Menghini will attend Southern Illinois University-Carbondale while Cat McGrath will go to Emory University and Emily Jaeger will attend Missouri S & T.
The Angels finished with an overall record of 31-7-2.
Villa Wins State Golf
A senior-laden Villa Duchesne golf team made up for a bitter disappointment at the 2009 state tournament with its second state championship in school history this fall.
"We had four seniors who felt they didn't get the job done as juniors last year," Villa Coach Linda Potter said. "There were just six strokes separating the top five teams after the first day at state last year. We were fifth and looking forward to move up but were rained out the second day."
The Saints fell a little short of last year's title so it was a determined bunch that played an impressive two days of golf this fall. The Saints finished with a score of 689. was second with a 704.
"The girls were determined and they went out the first day and shot a 339, which was our best score of the season," Potter said. "It was truly a team effort all season. We did not have a superstar and nobody is going to go on to play golf in college. But we have five girls whose averages were within three strokes of each other."
The Saints lost just one dual match during the season, falling to Ursuline Academy in Kirkwood. Ironically, they did not qualify as a team through districts. MICDS and Westminster each shot 348 at districts with Villa just one stroke behind. The top two teams qualified for sectionals and Villa was able to do so as, too, as all five of its golfers finished in the top 15.
Villa went on to win its first-ever state sectional round and then capped it off with the state championship.
Seniors Christine Russon and Caroline Leeker were all-state selections with Top 10 finishes at state. Russon was fifth and Leeker was eighth. Senior Lauren Hopson was 19th. Junior Callie Frey, the lone non-senior in the state lineup, was 22nd and senior Danielle Shroyer was 33rd.