With gym renovations in Steelville postponing their annual seventh-grade volleyball tournament, Emily McKinney’s Owensville 7th Grade Dutchgirl volleyball team set up three matches Saturday morning with St. James, Salem and New Haven.

Needing three sets to turn back Salem (25-16, 23-25 and 15-13), Owensville went on to sweep St. James (25-15, 25-5) and New Haven (25-8, 25-19) in two sets before heading to California for the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) Class 4, District 9 Girls Basketball Tournament title game between the visiting Owensville Dutchgirls and host California Lady Pintos.

Trailing 12-8 midway through game one, Zoie Barnes served the next four points squaring game one at 12-12 before Salem reclaimed a 14-13 lead.

Zaylie Gromer then served the next five points helping the orange and black to an 18-14 lead.

Now leading 19-16, an Allison Evans kill sent Kiera Hamm behind the service line for the Dutchgirls with a 20-16 lead.

Hamm then served the next five points with an Evans block sealing the deal on Owensville’s game-one victory.

Leading 18-14 late in game two on a pair of Barnes aces, the Dutchgirls saw Salem outscore them 11-5 the rest of the set to force a deciding third game.

Down 12-9 late in game three, Hamm served the next six points helping OMS to a 14-12 lead with help from Jordyn Crosby and Jewel Draheim kills.

A Salem attack error gave Owensville game three and the match.

Facing St. James in the next round of matches, the orange and black trailed St. James 10-8 before an Evans kill sent Crosby behind the service line.

Serving three consecutive aces, Crosby gave the Dutchgirls a 12-10 lead.

A Draheim kill and a Lily Rossi ace bumped the OMS lead to 14-11.

Nursing a 16-14 lead later in the set, a Kat Buhr kill sent Gromer back into service land.

Serving the next seven points, Gromer bumped the Dutchgirl lead into double digits at 24-14 before a St. James service error gave them game one.

After an Evans kill to start game two, Crosby served the next 14 points which included 10 aces pushing the OMS advantage to 15-0.

Five Barnes service points and a Gromer ace later in game two helped Owensville secure the two-set sweep of St. James.

Closing the Saturday morning of volleyball against New Haven, Crosby picked up right where she left off in game two of the St. James match.

Serving the first 10 points of game one against New Haven, Crosby added six aces to her staggering total on the day helping the Dutchgirls to an early 10-0 lead.

After Evans recorded her third kill of game one, she served four more points bumping the OMS advantage to 15-1 helped by a couple of Evans’ aces.

Fresh off a Missouri USA State Championship in girls wrestling, Ambrosiah Salamone recorded a kill which led to five Draheim service points and a 21-2 Dutchgirl lead.

Kills from Barnes, Buhr and Gromer helped Owensville take game one from the Lady Shamrocks.

Hamm opened game two with a kill sending Gromer behind the serving line where she recorded the next five points helping OMS to a 6-0 lead.

Leading 13-6 midway through game two, Buhr then fired off five aces over the next six points pushing the OMS lead to 19-6.

Able to withstand a flurry of errors, a Crosby kill gave the Dutchgirls game two and the match over New Haven.

OMS Dutchgirl volleyball will return to action tomorrow (Thursday) night hosting Bourbon’s Lady Warhawks at 5 p.m., inside the Owensville Elementary School (OES) gym beginning with seventh-grade action.

This match was originally scheduled for Monday night but postponed to tomorrow night due to Dutchmen basketball’s sectional contest against Clayton.