Roaring crowds and loud music that’s almost deafening. The Eagles grinding point by point, closing in on the final 25 points. Set one the Eagles dominate with little mistakes winning 25-19. Set two the Eagles barely flew by the Bruins winning 27-25. Set three the Eagles and their fans erupted on the final kill of the game that Jimmy Siterlet (11) got. The final score in the third set was 25-21. The Eagles swept the home team Rock Bridge Bruins Thursday night becoming the first team in the school’s history to reach a state Final Four.
The Eagles relentless attacks were led by Siterlet and Brody Breen (11) having a total of 37 kills. Even though the Bruins had a six foot eight inch middle blocker the Eagles were able to swing around him.
“I felt like defensive intensity was really good,” Siterlet said.
In a single point, Breen had a diving save, Owen Roberts (11) made an impeccable play on the ball after it got hit off the block, and Siterlet got an amazing kill. Without those saves, the Eagles could have possibly lost a set then gone to a fourth set or even a fifth set. The team had a total of 5 blocks and 29 digs.
Siterlet keeps showing his dominance with 685 kills this season. He is the bread and butter of the team, always ready and always consistent. If there are any worries with hitting, the team can go to Siterlet to get the job done. If Siterlet so happens to be struggling, the team can turn to Breen. While these two are the main firepower, they have Chase Willnerd (10) and Beckham Laboube (9).
While the Eagles were very solid defensively, they struggled a lot on serving and serve receive. In just the second set alone, the Eagles had missed seven serves. Throughout all three sets, there was a total of 12 missed serves. On serve receive there were only three errors however not all the passes were great.
“My app gives a 0-3, 0 is us getting aced or overpassed, 1, 2, and 3 are the ratings based on the location and height of the ball,” assistant coach Andrew Weddle said. “Essentially, if we have three front row hitters, a perfect pass is a 3 ball and let’s us use all three options. A 2 ball is often in the middle, so we lose that option, giving us just two options on the pins. A one is usually a shank that we barely got up. My app is very generous since it doesn’t often get the height or tightness on the net. Last night we had roughly a 2.0. If I did stats not in real time, that might be lower.”
Throughout the entire season the team has had an average serve receive of about 2.1. While a 2.1 isn’t bad, the goal for the team is around 2.3. Without good passes, the team cannot utilize all of their weapons leading to predictability and frustration among the team. When the team gets mad at each other, they tend to play down and it is very hard for them to gain momentum again.
The Eagles are now preparing for their next game against Saint Louis University High School (SLUH) out at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau. The game starts at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26. The winner of that game will advance to the state championship at 4 p.m. and the loser will go to play in the third place match at 2 p.m. the next day, May 27.
