HERMANN —  The Hermann volleyball Lady Bearcats took home fourth place at the Class 2 State Tournament in Cape Girardeau over the weekend, Nov. 8-9, after falling to the Fair Grove Eagles on Friday and the St. Vincent Lady Indians on Saturday.

On Friday, Hermann (19-17) came into their State semifinals matchup against the defending State champions in Fair Grove riding a six-game winning streak and having yet to lose a set in the playoffs, and while Fair Grove ultimately prevailed, Hermann showed their opponent why they were in the Final Four, too.

The Eagles eked out close victories over the Lady Bearcats in the first set by the score of 25-23 and in a long second set by the final of 31-29 before closing things out with a more comfortable 25-18 win in the third.

In their game against Fair Grove, Hermann had 29 kills to the Eagles 42, with eight fewer attack errors 16-24, and both teams had three serving aces. However, Hermann also had 10 serving errors compared to their opponents’ seven.

With the loss, Hermann was set to face St. Vincent in the third-place game on Saturday.

They came out strong to open the game against the Lady Indians and staked themselves to a two-sets-to-none lead after winning the first 25-14 and the second 25-21, but some errors helped leave the door open for St. Vincent and they were able to make the most of it.

The Lady Indians came back to win the third set 25-19 and the fourth set 25-22 to force a decisive fifth set. They would go on to win the fifth 15-10 to complete their comeback against Hermann and claim third place, sending the Lady Bearcats home with the fourth place trophy.

Hermann edged out St. Vincent in kills in the game, 50 to 47, had 25 attack errors to the Lady Indians’ 24, and both teams had nine aces and nine serve errors apiece.

Fair Grove was able to repeat as State champions, defeating Bishop LeBlond in straight sets in the championship game 25-19, 25-20, and 25-17.

Despite their losses at the Show-Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Hermann played well against the best of Class 2 in the state of Missouri. Head coach Tess Schannuth felt they continued to do well in the areas they have focused more heavily on – serve receive and passing in particular – but acknowledged there were some errors at critical points in the games.

“I thought the girls did a really great job with serve receive. We were aced a couple times, which will happen to anyone, but we worked really hard to put up three passes almost every time. We also worked really hard on defense,” Schannuth said of what went well, before continuing to note, “We struggled a bit with serving and placement with our swings during some crucial moments.”

Their season now at its end, Hermann may not have gotten the outcome they had hoped for, but continued a recent run of success that only the very best high school sports programs can boast – nine consecutive district titles, 13 in the last 15 years, and five State titles in those 15 years.

The sort of perennial success and championship aspirations that Hermann’s volleyball program has comes from the culture fostered by years of hard work and is passed down from one class to the next, which, along with their no-quit attitude, is something coach Schannuth saw in this year’s team.

“The girls did a really good job of persevering when times got tough,” she said. “I’m proud of all of our girls, and everyone made a lot of improvements throughout the season that we can apply next year. The seniors pushed a lot of our younger girls every day, and I’m very appreciative of their leadership.”

The Lady Bearcats will lose seniors Sydney Schulte, Kennedie Witthaus, Ava Hughes, and Lila Uthlaut before returning to action next fall in pursuit of their 16th championship banner.