The Santa Fe Chiefs volleyball team made their long trip to the northwest corner of the state well worth it Saturday, Nov. 2 by very impressively making quick work of Rock Port in the MSHSAA Class One state quarterfinals.
The Chiefs had little trouble qualifying for this weekend’s MSHSAA Championships in Cape Girardeau as they rolled past the Blue Jays in 3-0 fashion. Santa Fe found themselves behind on the scoreboard only briefly in the third set while hammering out a 25-22, 25-13 and 25-11 victory over their opponent.
Santa Fe was threatened but once all afternoon. They raced out to a 5-0 lead to begin the match and then steadily widened their margin to 24-13 during the latter stages of the first set. Rock Port responded by playing their best volleyball of the day when they tallied nine straight points to trim the deficit to 24-22 before the Chiefs scored with a side out to end the threat at 25-22.
Sets two and three provided little drama with Santa Fe winning by double digits in both of those instances. Rock Port had entered the day with eight victories in their previous 10 outings as they wrapped up their year with a record of 16-15-2.
The Chiefs thus advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2021 and for the 24th time in school history. They have won 10 of their last 12 matches while improving to 23-9 on the year. Santa Fe now plays Advance in the state semifinals at 2 p.m. Friday at Southeast Missouri State University’s Show-Me Center Winona and Jasper are the other two Class One qualifiers that are traveling to Cape Girardeau this weekend; their tilt is scheduled for 4 p.m.
One other Lafayette County team will be on hand for volleyball action in the Bootheel as Odessa’s spikers are in the Final Four for the first time ever. The Bulldogs were successful in their Class 3 quarterfinal on Saturday as they defeated their MRVC Conference rival, Pleasant Hill in four sets, 25-20, 22-25, 25-23 and 25-17. Armed with a record of 25-7, the Odessa girls now meet Potosi in a state semifinal matchup at 10 am Thursday. Logan-Rogersville and Eldon are in the other semifinal that plays at noon.