By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The No. 1 seed Smithville outlasted Benton in a physical, four-set match, while No. 2 seed Savannah capitalized on a fast start to beat No. 3 seed Lafayette, 3-1, on Monday night in the Class 4 District 16 semifinals at Benton High School.
Smithville 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-20, 25-22)
The Warriors (25-5-5) were in a close battle with host school and No. 4 seed Benton throughout. The Cardinals (16-15-1) were able to take the second set, but never had a lead in the third.
The fourth set was up for grabs down the stretch, but Smithville was able to score the final couple of points to survive and advance to the district championship on Tuesday night at 6.
Smithville's Rylee Thompson led the way with 10 kills, but Benton senior Alyia Stillman, who just last week reached 1,000 career kills herself, finished with a match-high 17 kills, six aces and two blocks.
Fellow Benton senior Gabrielle Moulden had 11 kills and a pair of blocks. Sophomore Hollie Peters had nine kills.
Savannah 3-1 (25-14, 25-12, 23-25, 25-16)
The Savages (22-10-2) cruised through the first two sets, getting off to a 12-3 start in the first and a 12-1 start in the second.
Lafayette (15-19) flipped the script in the third, getting out to a 13-6 start themselves and hanging on for a narrow victory to avoid being swept.
The fourth set started out 5-5, but a 7-0 run propelled Savannah to a nice lead halfway through, and the Savages were able to hold the Irish down the rest of the way to punch their ticket into Tuesday's district title.
"Third set, I think we just got comfortable and played safe," Savannah head coach Marina Atkins said. "There toward the end, they flipped a switch and the girls were like, 'Yeah we've had enough.' So, then we took that energy from the third into the fourth."
Senior Alexcia Jones led Savannah with 11 kills, while junior Sailor Bodenhausen had eight. Sophomore Rhyan Shrick was right behind with seven kills of her own.
"It helps that our offense is pretty even," Atkins said. "I mean, we do have a couple of hitters who we trust to put the ball away at times. But, overall, we have front row players who can put the ball away and even backrow players that we can set, so they can just put it over."
Junior Bailey Flanagan led Lafayette with 11 kills.
Savannah, seeking its first district title in volleyball since 2015, will face Smithville in the Class 4 District 16 championship on Tuesday night at 6 at Benton High School.
The Warriors beat Savannah 3-0 back on August 30 - the first match of the season for both teams.
"They were our first game of the season," Atkins recalled. "So, we're coming out hungry and we're ready to play them. We're ready to win."
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