HERMANN —After day one of the 69th Annual Hermann Invitational volleyball tournament on Monday, Sep. 30, the Lady Bearcats have put themselves in a position to play for the championship after defeating all three of their pool play opponents, winning six straight sets across three games.

Hermann defeated the Washington Lady Blue Jays, the St. James Lady Tigers, and the St. Francis Borgia Knights, each two-sets-to-none across their three games in Pool A.

By winning Pool A, Hermann will face the second place team in Pool B which was determined by the Pool B games on Tuesday, Oct. 1. The results of the Pool B games were not available at the time of publication, but their potential opponents include Pacific, New Haven, Owensville, and the St. Louis Panthers.

“I think it was the girls really picking up their communication,” Hermann’s new head coach Tess Schannuth said of what worked well for them Monday, adding, “we’re really focusing on discipline. That’s something the girls like to say during sets or on the bench, ‘stay disciplined’.”

The Lady Bearcats certainly needed both communication and discipline, particularly in their first game against Washington and their final game against Borgia.

Hermann took down Washington in the first set by a comfortable 25-15 margin, but needed a much closer 25-23 win in the second set to close them out.

Their second game against St. James provided less drama as the Lady Bearcats rolled to 25-3 and 25-4 wins in two sets, but it was their third game against the Knights that tested their mettle the most. 

Hermann fell behind by the midpoint of the first set, but rallied from a 9-13 deficit to tie Borgia at 14.

The two teams traded blows, mostly from their well-matched strong defense and outside hitting until Borgia was again able to pull away, prompting a Hermann timeout down 17-20.

After regrouping, they tied things up at 20 and pressed on further to take a 23-20 lead before Borgia called their own timeout.

“Coach [Symantha] Fredrick and I really try and light a fire under their butts when they need it,” Schannuth said. Hermann was often able to rally following their timeouts.

Despite a couple of late miscues, the Lady Bearcats closed out the Knights 25-22.

The second set started out much better for Hermann with them leaping out to a 10-3 lead on a wave of momentum after the comeback win in the first.

As Borgia reeled, Hermann capitalized and, while not flawless, put together long runs and prevented the Knights from truly being able to get back into the game, eventually winning the set 25-18.

Hermann will face the second place team from Pool B at 5 p.m. at Hermann High School this Thursday, Oct. 3.

If they win, they will play in the championship match at 8 p.m., and if they lose they will play in the third-place game at 7 p.m.