Leon Jewett Reclaims 2A Title 5-15, 15-4, 15-10

Leon Jewett returned to the state championship podium on strength of 6'0" middles Haley Thomas and Julie Jensen here Saturday morning. Thomas, a sophomore, and Jensen, a junior, combined for 25 kills to lead the Cougars to their second title in three years and their eighth overall.

After losing the first game, Leon rallied on the strength of its two middles to reclaim the title it lost to Prairiland in a 3-game war last year. Thomas dominated game 3, with 9 kills in that game alone. Jordan Helmcamp did an excellent job of getting the ball to her two big hitters and finished with 37 assists.

Pattonville's Emille Bolton, named the tournament MVP, finished an outstanding high school career with 18 hard-earned kills. She had 33 kills for the tournament.

Pattonville's Lacy Davis served 9 straight points including three aces in game 1 to blow open a 5-4 game and put the Lady Patriots in front to stay. Leon Jewett rebounded with a vengeance in game 2 behind the play of Thomas and Jensen who dominated the net. The Cougars put together 5- and 6-point runs to force game 3, which was a continuation of game 2.

"I said I'm not going to gripe or fuss at you, but I am going to tell you what you have to do to win this match," coach Teresa Sitton said she told her team after the first game. "I told them we needed to cover the tips and rollshots better and we had to adjust to the spots they were hitting to. I told them we had to run our offense and make them play defense.

"For a small school, we're fortunate that all of our girls can hit the ball and we can go to our middles or our outsides and they can put it down," said Sitton, who claimed her first state title at the tradition-rich school. "This group of girls will always be special to me because they are my first state championship team."

"It's great because I'm a senior and we were able to get revenge," said Helmcamp.

Leon, making its 18th appearance in the Final Four, improved to 35-5 while Prairiland finishes its season at 39-5.

Statistical leaders

Pattonville Prairiland
Kills - Bolton 18, Nichols 8, Martin and Graham 3
Assists - Graham 27
Blocks - Bolton 3
Aces - Davis 4, Graham 3
Digs - Nichols and Martin 9, Graham 7, Bolton and Davis 6

Leon Jewett
Kills - Thomas 14, Jensen 11, Jones and Bates 7
Assists - Helmcamp 37
Aces - Jones 3, Helmcamp 2
Digs - Jones 13, Bates 8
Blocks - Thomas 4S, 2A; Helmcamp 1