Following a less-than-desirable 1-3-1 finish at the annual Dig for Life Challenge two weeks ago, the St. Vincent volleyball team hasn’t looked in the rearview mirror. In fact, the Indians have gone undefeated since the tournament and made plenty of noise recently with their last two wins. St. Vincent (8-5-1) defeated the likes of Class 2 powerhouses Valle Catholic (12-2-1) and Jefferson Festus (9-10-4) back-to-back in dramatic fashion.
On Monday, the Indians took down the Warriors, who have made three state final fours in the past decade, via a 3-0 sweep (28-26, 25-21, 25- 20) at home. This came after a 3-1 victory (25-19, 20-25, 25-18, 25-17) over last year’s JCAA Small School Conference Championship Bluejays last Thursday night on the road.
Last season, St. Vincent beat Jefferson in five sets of the state quarterfinals to reach the Class 2 Final Four, a team that won the state championship just three seasons ago.
With plenty of regular-season action to go till the postseason, these wins are still very telling for an Indians team that not only hopes to return to state, but wants to win it all. This early success comes even after St. Vincent brought on a brand new head coach in Leeah Radil this season, who has only been on the job for over three weeks now.
In that short amount of time, though, Coach Radil says coaching these Indians has been nothing short of a blessing for her.
“They are the best group of kids I’ve ever coached,” Radil said. “The first week I was here, they were all like, ‘All right, what are we doing? How can we improve?’ That is just so amazing to see and so refreshing going into a team like that. All of these kids are amazing; they’re amazing to each other, and they’re amazing to coach. It is such a fun time being here, and I love it.”
At the head of the offensive attack for Coach Radil is a player who once again has proven to be one of the most dominant hitters in not only southeast Missouri but the entire state. This is none other than senior outside hitter Kate Rubel, who is leading St. Vincent in kills with an average of 10-plus per game while unselfishly playing in both the front and back row.
Along with her offense, Rubel is also one of the Indians' top-three leaders in digs and service aces. For Coach Radil, she is utterly impressed by someone like Kate to be as talented as she is, since she has played travel basketball over volleyball throughout the past few years.
“Kate is the type of player that you can give her anything, and she will do it,” Radil stated. “Give her three times you tell her to run a play — after three balls, she’s got it down. That is one of the most beneficial things for her as a player. She is the type of hitter that looks where she’s hitting before she’ll swing, so she finds the open spots on the court. It’s awesome to watch her play.”
Serving Rubel the ball, of course, and having made Coach Radil’s offense run so smoothly early on has been Kate’s twin sister, senior setter Brie Rubel. Like Kate, Brie has only played travel basketball over the last couple of years instead of volleyball, but she’s leading the Indians in not just assists at around 20 per game, but also in digs (over eight per match) as well as aces.
The type of versatility the Rubel twins possess on the court is what Coach Radill says makes them some of the most mesmerizing talents in all of southeast Missouri.
“Those are the two that your eyes get drawn to a lot of the time,” Radil said. “Brie is one of the most athletic kids I’ve ever coached, and her defense is unbelievable. That’s something you don’t see in a lot of setters, and she picks up everything — she’s so fun to watch. Your eyes are always drawn to her because she really does run the team.
“Just from the three weeks I’ve had her, she’s improved so much and is running things that she had no idea what they were two weeks ago. She’s such a good person as a setter because she’s such a good teammate. She cares about all of these girls wholeheartedly.”
Outside of these two, St. Vincent has had plenty of stellar performances from the likes of their two middle blockers in senior Alaina Cates and junior Sophie Verseman. Cates and Verseman both rotate at the position, but you couldn’t tell which one of them is the starter, as they both spike and block the ball with command. Alaina and Sophie are the Indians' top two blockers, averaging nearly two per game apiece, while they’re also in the top four of kills with averages around five per contest.
Another top attacker for St. Vincent’s offense has been senior outside hitter Clara Clifton, as she sits behind Kate in kills by averaging more than five a game. Along with that, Clifton has also been one of the Indians' top defenders while producing an average of around five digs.
Looking at the defense, senior Callie Schnurbusch has been key at libero as she’s grown into the position effortlessly after serving as a defensive specialist all of last season. She paces Brie with more than six digs per game, while junior Paige Leible has also been making a big impact in the back row and serving the ball.
“I can see that we’re coming along defensively, like they have greatly improved over the last three weeks,” Coach Radil said. “They’re taking everything I say and doing exactly that — they’re fixing everything. I’ve fixed our lineup how I want it, and I think that has tremendously helped us.”
