Conference action is heating up on the diamond while the winning streak continues for the St. Louis University High School boys’ volleyball team. There was also a big matchup on the soccer field this week while a familiar face will take over as Athletic Director at Whitfield.
Time to get caught up on this week’s Friday Fast Break.
Whitfield announced earlier this week that longtime athletic director at Parkway Mike Roth will assume their AD position beginning July 1, 2022. Roth takes over for Mike Potsou, who will be leaving Whitfield at the end of the school year to take the AD post at Vianney. Roth has been in the Parkway School District for 30 years, including 17 years of teaching and coaching with 13 years as an athletic director. He was recently named the 2022 AD of the Year by the Missouri Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association for both the state and the St. Louis area.
Conference play on the baseball diamond started this week with a few outstanding two-game series around the area. Out in St. Charles in the GAC, Francis Howell took a pair of one-run contests from their district rival Howell Central. In the opening game on Tuesday, The Vikings needed a six-run fifth inning to defeat the Spartans 7-6. Leo Humbert, Brysen Nepute, and Cole Schultz paced the Vikings’ offense with two hits each while Humbert added a pair of RBIs with a double in the win. In the return game Wednesday, Brett Norfleet broke a scoreless tie in the top of the seventh with a home run to give the Vikings a 1-0 victory. Nepute earned the win on the mound for Howell with seven innings of four-hit baseball with 10 strikeouts.
In the Metro Catholic Conference, De Smet evened their conference record to 2-2 after winning a pair of games against Vianney. In the opener Tuesday, the Spartans scattered eight hits in a 5-4 win over the Golden Griffins. Cooper Howell paced the De Smet attack with two hits including a double while Will Teepe hit a two-run single in the win. In the second game of the series, Nick Panagos tossed a no-hitter to give the Spartans a 3-0 victory. Luke Burns and Darian Crisp each had two hits in the game to pace the Spartans in the win.
The SLUH boys’ volleyball team continued their winning streak with a pair of wins over Parkway Central and Marquette this week. The Jr. Bills have won over 100 straight sets over the last few years. SLUH opened the week with a 25-12, 25-8, 25-19 win over Parkway Central. Michael Yemm paced the Jr. Bills with 11 kills with George Henken adding 15 assists in the win. The Jr. Bills then turned around to defeat Marquette 25-17, 25-18, 25-16 with Phillip Bone having a game-high 21 kills in the win while Henken handed out 38 assists.
On the pitch, St. Dominic bounced back after losing their match since 2019 with a pair of wins this week, including a 1-0 victory over Notre Dame Thursday afternoon. After a scoreless first half, Macie Begley took a pass from Addie Biehl and scored to give the Crusaders the lead. Katy Fitzler continued her strong play in goal in earning the seventh clean sheet of the season for St. Dominic.
Parkway West continued their solid start to the season with two wins this week as the Longhorns downed Parkway Central 6-1 and Westminster 3-0. In the win over the Wildcats, Parkway West scored all their goals in the second half as Mary Hardy found the net twice while Abbie Zensen added another goal to help the Longhorns improve to 4-0 on the season.
There will be a lot of great activities taking place this weekend around the area in all the sports.
On the track, St. Dominic will host their annual meet that is set to begin Friday at 3:30 p.m. while many teams will compete in the Skippy Keefer Relays that are set to begin Saturday at 9 a.m. Many girls’ track and field teams will head to Wentzville for the Timberland Invite Saturday morning starting at 9 a.m.
On the tennis courts, the Holt singles Invite will be played Saturday starting at 9 a.m. after they had to cancel the first day of play Friday due to cold temperatures. The AAA conference will hold its annual league Tournament Saturday as well.
It will be a full day of soccer action at St. Joseph’s Academy Saturday as many area teams will match up on the pitch. Headlining the action, Cor Jesu is taking on Visitation in the first game of the day starting at 9:30 a.m. while the host Angels will play Edwardsville at 11:30 a.m.
In the pool, it will be a busy day at the St. Peters Rec-Plex as the top teams in the Midwest will take to the pool in water polo action. In one of the top matches of the day, parkway West will take on Oak Park Fenwick in the final game of the day at 7:40 p.m.
There will also be a lot of baseball action happening around the area as many teams are looking to play catch up after losing some games this week due to bad weather.
Jim Powers has been covering prep sports in the St. Louis area for 15+ years and a part of the Missouri State High School Activities Association Championship Broadcasts for the past 11 years. Powers is also a part of the Fox 2 Verlo Mattress Prep Zone Friday nights at 10:10 during the football and basketball seasons. If you have a prep sports story, please contact Jim at japowers2421@yahoo.com. Follow Jim at @hssportscaravan
