Editor's Note: Check News Tribune sports reporter Tony Hawley (@tony_hawley) on Twitter for his updates during the games.
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With all the adversity the Fatima volleyball team has faced this season, it should come as no surprise to the Lady Comets they're heading into the Class 2 Final Four with some drama accompanying them.
After an injury-riddled regular season, things seemed to be returning to normal as the postseason got underway. The Lady Comets cruised through district play early last week and then fought their way to wins in sectional and quarterfinal matches Saturday.
But after a few days to celebrate, more bad news showed up Monday when right-side hitter Shaina Boehm injured an ankle during practice.
As a result, Boehm is doubtful to play in the Final Four, which is set for today and Saturday at the Show-Me Center in Cape Girardeau.
"Injuries have definitely ravaged us all year, but we've made do," Fatima coach Mark Bockstruck said. "We take 14 girls (on the varsity) for a reason, so that we can get players trained for situations such as this."
Bockstruck said he was trying to do the only thing he could under the circumstances - find the silver lining.
"The player that would hit us hardest (if lost) is Haley (Luebbering), because she's our only six-rotation player. That's what I kept telling myself (Monday), was that it could be a lot worse," he said. "Since we lost Kenadi (Huhn) for two-thirds of the year (to a knee injury), we ran an offense where Caitlin Berhorst ran the right side. So she got training and work at right side, so with Shaina dropping out, we do have a player that does have experience there."
The injury woes may have proved beneficial in a way.
"With the injuries we've had, we've had to switch focus repeatedly, and I think that's actually helped us a little bit," Bockstruck said. "We never got completely comfortable to where we could start goofing off in practice. ... (Monday) after Shaina went down, practice totally changed to complete focus."
The injury also affected prep work this week.
"With Shaina going down, our main priority is to get comfortable in our rotation with Caitlin in that position," Bockstruck said. "So while I have been sending out emails across the state trying to get information on our opponents to prep for them, because of this injury, now I feel like we need to spend more time focusing on us instead of focusing on how we're going to attack our opponents."
III
FATIMA WILL BE making its third trip to the Final Four in four years, but it's hardly old hat to these players.
The Lady Comets finished second in 2011 and won the title in 2012 before falling in the sectional round last year. Only one player, Huhn, was a freshman in 2012 and she played in just one of the eight sets Fatima played at the Final Four.
"The girls are really looking to me help lead them and guide them once we get there, because they don't fully know what to expect," Bockstruck said. "Because they're unsure of what lies ahead, I think they're really relying on coach."
Perhaps the biggest thing this group will need to get used to about the Final Four will be the surroundings.
"You don't know how to play there until you get there," Bockstruck said. "It's just such a huge arena, it's a totally different atmosphere than they're used to playing in. There's nothing we can really do to prep for that."
What the Lady Comets (32-3-1) can prep for are their opponents, which include Liberty: Mountain View (36-3), St. Paul Lutheran (32-4-2) and Bloomfield (23-11-2).
The teams will play round-robin matches at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. today. The two teams with the best results will play in Saturday's championship match at 4:30 p.m., while the third-place match is set for 10:30 a.m.
"In the responses I've been getting back from coaches, Bloomfield and St. Paul Lutheran are both pretty much two-player teams," Bockstruck said. "They have two stars and then the rest of them are fill-ins. Our team doesn't really have that, and I think that gives us an advantage.
"Liberty: Mountain View, though, the consensus I'm getting on them is that they run a balanced offense. That's the game we're really concerned about, because we run a balanced offense, and that's a lot harder to defend."
The Lady Comets switched to an offense with three middle hitters this season, a change that has proven beneficial.
"The point of it is to provide flexibility in the front line to get the matchups we want," Bockstruck said. "I think that's going to give us a big advantage while we're down there (in Cape Girardeau). We can move our strongest hitters against their weakest blockers. That's going to help us a lot.
"The girls worked really hard - you can't do it without them. They really bought into my system this year and they had the goal from the very beginning that they wanted to return to the Final Four. They thought they had the players to do it and I thought we had the players to do it. They fought hard all season long."
III
THE LADY COMETS prepped for the Final Four by winning two tough matches last weekend.
The first was a 25-17, 25-18 win against Trinity Catholic in the sectional round.
"Trinity surprised us, Trinity played a lot better than we expected," Bockstruck said. "They did an outstanding job blocking us, that was the big key. But we did a phenomenal job of covering our hitters. Trinity only finished with four kill blocks, even though they got their hands on roughly 15-18 balls.
"I thought we did an excellent job of covering our hitters and the hitters kept swinging. ... Tara (Buthod) and Haley (Luebbering) really came through with a lot of kills in that match."
Fatima then needed to rally from a first-set loss to beat Lutheran: St. Charles 14-25, 26-24, 26-24.
"That was the most intense match I've ever coached, by far," Bockstruck said. "It was just way intense and when that final ball dropped and we won, I think almost every girl was bawling because they had to control their emotions during the match and once the ball fell, they just let it out.
"I don't think I've ever seen a team of mine cry as much as that team did. They just let it out."
The Lady Comets are hoping for another big celebration this weekend.
"We've got some allies going down there," Bockstruck said. "When I told the team that Helias was going (to the Class 3 Final Four), the whole bus started screaming. They are friends with all of Helias' team.
"And New Haven is going as well (in Class 1), and they're a good ally of ours, plus Santa Fe is going (in Class 1), and they respect us.
"There's a lot of teams down there that we know are going to be cheering in our corner and we're going to be doing the same for them. It's a good feeling to have that. The girls have already told me that if we're playing for the state title and Helias is playing for the one right after us, we're going to be there to cheer them on. It's a good feeling to have that kind of community and encouragement."
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