Lutheran South Advances To Volleyball District Final, Affton Bows Out In Semifinals

SOUTH CITY – The two South County teams left in the Missouri Class 3 District 3 volleyball playoffs suffered different fates in the tournament’s semifinals Tuesday night at Bishop DuBourg High School in St. Louis.

Top-seeded Lutheran South played a shaky first set, but then performed magnificently in the second set of a two-games-to-none win over Notre Dame High, while Affton just made too many errors in a straight-set loss to second-seeded DuBourg.  

“The first game was a slow start, but the second game was much better,” Lutheran South head coach Corol Reinitz said. “We saw a lot of improvement in several different areas.”

Most of which was at the net, where the Lancers, who defeated the Rebels by scores of 25-21 and 25-15, truly dominated the second set, thanks mostly to some inspired play from outside hitter Claire Luther.

The 5-foot-10-inch junior had three kills, two service aces, and three blocks all in the second set, as Lutheran South jumped out to an 11-2 lead, then cruised to another easy match win.

“This group of girls are wonderful Christian young women,” Reinitz said, “and sometimes when they get on the volleyball court, they forget that they need to get a little bit more shall we say mean. Because it’s not really in their nature to be mean. So every now and then, I have to give them a reminder.”

Reinitz’s reminder came through loud and clear, and helped lift the Lancers to a 21-9 record as they get ready for Wednesday’s district championship game against DuBourg.

The Cavaliers got to the final by taking down Affton, which came in seeded third, but unfortunately didn’t play as well as many thought they would against the tournament’s host school.

The Cougars had an inordinate amount of passing, hitting, and defensive errors in a 25-21, 25-13 loss.

In fact, Affton lost three of the first four points of the match because of hitting errors, and never really was able to recover.

“We did have a lot of errors tonight,” Affton head coach Kathy Walkenbach, who was coaching in her last game as head of the Cougar volleyball program, said. “We made a lot of mistakes and that’s just something the girls are going to have to learn from.”

Affton trailed by as many as seven points on several different occasions in that first set, including a 21-14 deficit late in the frame.

But the Cougars rallied back and won six of the next eight points to make the score 23-20.

Unfortunately though, that was as close as Affton would get, as DuBourg, with the help of more Cougar hitting errors, won the two of the last three points to claim the first set win.

Then in the second set, Affton made a brief run to make the score 13-12 DuBourg, before the Cavaliers reeled off nine straight points to bust the game open at 22-12.

Freshman Carson Talley led the Cougars with seven kills on Tuesday, and finished the year with a team-high 129 kills on the season.

Wednesday’s championship game between Lutheran South and DuBourg, will still be played at DuBourg High, but first serve has been moved from 7 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. to accommodate St. Louis Cardinal fans, many of whom will be playing in the championship, who’d like to be home in time to watch Game 6 of the World Series.

Affton, which had a perfect 5-0 record in Suburban East Conference play this season, finished the year with a 16-13-1 record.

Final Score

Score by Quarters

F

Notre Dame

21

15

0

Lutheran South

25

25

2

Final Score

Score by Quarters

F

Affton

21

13

0

Bishop DuBourg

25

25

2