St. Joe Volleyball Makes Quick Work of Rival St. Teresa's of Kansas City

St. Joseph’s Academy volleyball team played cross-state rival St. Teresa’s Academy as if their coach Karen Davis was double parked.

The highly-motivated Angels dispatched the Stars with scores of 25-17 and 25-22 for just a 38 minute win over the No. 1 ranked team in the state.

It was a text book gem to match one of those patterned Bob Gibson’s one hour 45 minute specials for the Cardinals way back in the 1970s. There was no waiting around Friday night.

The team looked hungry as in wanting to get to the dinner table ASAP. “Sounds like a good idea to me,” said Molly Keeven, 5-foot-5 senior.

The Angels are playing short the rest of the way. Natalie Gower tore her ACL a week and a half ago, precipitating bringing some key freshman players up to the varsity.

The Angels roared out of the gate and led from wire to wire. The closest the Stars ever got was the second-set final score of 25-22.

Though this is not officially a tournament, the Angels host Ozark and St. Teresa’s volleyball teams this weekend. At 1:30 p.m. today, the 13-5-0 Angels regroup for a match with Ozark.

This is the time of the year when the defending state champs need to wipe the slate clean of any previous losses and get tuned for districts in a short while.

“We were really very excited for this game,” said middle blocker senior Elise Ames. “We wanted to come out here and really get going and leave everything on the floor. We’re undefeated in conference play and we’ve been putting together some really good practices.”

Alyssa Jensen, 5-foot-11 junior agreed. “I was so excited for this game. They (St. Teresa’s) are No. 1 in the state polls. This was a very important game for us. Our coach wants us to peak at the right time. We think about volleyball 24/7,” she claimed.

Keeven credits the inbound freshman for motivating the squad. “We’ve got 3-4 of them up now and they are helping us. Our three seniors are playing well and keeping the pressure up.”

Does Keevin think winning last year’s state title leave them with a bullseye on their backs?

“Not really. This is an entirely new season. But we’d like to get to Cape Girardeau and we’d like to win the whole thing again,” she said.

Coach Davis is not quite at the same point. “Right now, we’re just taking 'em one game at a time. Naming names, she gave shout outs to Carly Ochs, outside hitter, Alyssa Jensen, setter and Elise Ames, middle blocker as her keys to victory.

“That group has been very solid, and so has our core of defenders,” she said.