It was a banner weekend at the MSHSAA Girls’ State Team Tennis Championships as a pair of local teams claimed titles while district volleyball continued as well over the weekend. The MSHSAA and Illinois State High School Associations also announced their playoff pairings after the final games of the regular season were completed Saturday afternoon.
St. Joseph’s Academy defended their Class 3 championship with a 5-0 sweep of Rock Bridge in the title match Friday afternoon at the Cooper Tennis Center in Springfield, Mo. The win gave the Angels their state-record 18th-team tennis championship. St. Joseph’s advanced to the championship match with a 5-0 win over St. Teresa’s in the semifinals.
In Class 2, Ladue pulled off a sweep of all the fall tennis titles as the Rams defeated Fort Zumwalt South 5-0 Saturday afternoon to win their first championship since 2009. This is the ninth team title that Ladue has claimed. The Rams moved on to the championship match with a 5-0 victory over Grain Valley while the Bulldogs earned a ticket to the finals with a 5-2 victory over St. Pius X out of Kansas City in the semifinals. This was the first trip to the final four for the Bulldogs.
In Class 1, Clayton fell to Kennett/Holcomb in the final 5-3 in their eighth appearance in the final four. The Greyhounds moved on to the final with a 5-1 win over Notre Dame de Sion Friday afternoon. This is the third time that Clayton has earned the runner-up spot at the state championships.
The district volleyball tournament was in full swing this past weekend as there will be many big-time matchups in the semifinals Monday.
In Class 5, one of the top districts in the state at Eureka will see some familiar foes take on each other Monday evening as the host and top-seeded Eureka will take on the no. 4 seed Cor Jesu at 5 p.m. while No. 2 seed Lafayette will face No.3 seed, Marquette, in the second semifinal. In district three, No. 5 St. Joseph’s Academy moved on to the final with a 3-1 upset win over top-seeded Howell Central and will face No. 3 seed, Nerinx Hall, after the Markers upended Pattonville 3-1. This match will take place at Pattonville Tuesday at 6 p.m.
In the Class 4 District 2 at Rockwood Summit, the top two seeds moved on to the final as defending state champion Westminster will take on Parkway West Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Wildcats earned a 3-0 victory over Pacific while the Longhorns defeated Visitation 3-2 in a five-set thriller. In District 3, the host and top seed Clayton moved on to the title match with a 3-0 win over No. 4 seed Rosati-Kain while No.2 seed Incarnate Word swept No. 3 seed Ladue 3-0 as the teams will square off Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
In Class 3, top seed Notre Dame will take on host and No. 2 Ursuline in the district title match Monday at 4:30 p.m. The Rebels swept Bayless 3-0 to move on to the championship match while the Bears swept Affton 3-0 to advance.
The first round of the football playoffs is set as MSHSAA and IHSA announced the tournament pairing Saturday evening.
We start in Illinois as in Class 1A, Dupo earned the 15-seed and will travel and take on No. 2 seed Cole Camp. In Class 2A, No. 11 seed Nashville will head to take on No. 6 seed Red Bud while No. 14 seed Althoff will play No. 3 Shelbyville. In Class 3A, it will be a local match-up as No. 9 seed Roxana will travel and take on No. 8 seed Hillsboro. There are a lot of local teams in Class 4A as No. 5 seed Breese Central will host No. 12 seed Mt. Zion while No. 10 Waterloo will take on No.7 seed, Olney. No. 11 seed Columbia rounds out the local group as they will take on No. 6 seed Murphysboro.
In Class 5A in Illinois, Triad earned the five seed and will host No. 12 seed Centralia with No. 2 seed Highland hosting No. 15 seed Dunlap. Mascoutah grabbed the seven seed and will host No. 10 seed Marion. In Class 6A, East St. Louis earned the sixth seed and will host No. 11 seed Oak lawn. Collinsville earned an eight seed in Class 7A and will host No. 25 seed Bradley and in the Class 8A bracket, Belleville East grabbed the 29th seed and will travel to South Elgin while No. 11 seed O’Fallon will get a rematch with fellow SWC rival and No. 22 seed Edwardsville.
The IHSA will announce the days and times for the first-round games early this week.
On the Missouri side of things, MSHSAA announced the brackets for district play. In Class 6, CBC earned the top seed in District 1 while Marquette is the two seed, Seckman grabbed the No. 3 seed, and Kirkwood will be the four seed. In District 2, Troy jumped Rock Bridge to earn the top seed with the Bruins coming in with the second seed. Pattonville will be the three seed while Ritenour earned the four seed over De Smet, who is the fifth seed.
In Class 5, Jackson is the top seed in District 1 with Eureka earning the top seed in District 2. District 3 will see undefeated Howell in the top slot while Holt grabbed the No. 1 seed in District 4.
Hillsboro will be the top seed in Class 4 District 1 while St. Mary’s will be in the top slot in District 2. In District 3, Parkway Central earned the top seed with Hazelwood East garnering the top seed in District 4.
And finally in Class 3, Valle Catholic is the top seed in District 1 while undefeated Cardinal Ritter is in the top slot in District 2. St. Charles West grabbed the top slot in District 3 with St. Clair earning the No. 1 seed in District 4.
We will have all of the first-round matchups listed later this week.
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
