By james art 
(Rock Port) — The Rock Port volleyball team completed a magical postseason run Saturday in the Class 1 state quarterfinals.
After reeling off six straight wins to secure the school’s fourth state quarterfinal appearance in program history, the Blue Jays (16-15-2) fell in three sets to the Santa Fe Lady Chiefs (23-9) on KMA 960.
“We’re definitely not going to hang our heads,” Rock Port head coach Stephanie Parsons told KMA Sports. “It could have gone better for us today – we didn’t bring our ‘game’ and we’ve definitely played a lot better than that before. We talked about wanting to make Rock Port history, play like a Blue Jay and win like a Blue Jay, they’ve definitely stepped up and done that this season.”
Santa Fe jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the first set, but Rock Port rallied to cut the gap to 10-9 before the Lady Chiefs pulled away to within 24-13. However, the Blue Jays ran off nine unanswered to close the frame at 24-22. But Santa Fe’s Brooke Dierking sealed the set with a kill at 25-22. The second set started back and forth and ended at 8-8. However, the Lady Chiefs rallied from a 13-0 run behind a big set from Emma Michael and held off a mini-burst from Rock Port to take the second set, 25-13.
Rock Port took its first lead of the day in the third set early, but the Lady Chiefs quickly answered and took an 11-4 advantage. Santa Fe then took 14 of the final 21 points and posted a three-set 25-11 run to punch its ticket to the state semifinals.
“You can tell the difference between a team that regularly makes the quarterfinals the way (Santa Fe) played and how they came out and a team that has only made the quarterfinals four times in school history,” Parsons said. “Especially in a high-pressure game like this.”
Emma Michael led the offensive attack for the Lady Chiefs with 21 kills on the day to go along with a block. Meanwhile, Mia Lark had 26 digs while May Vandiver dished out 30 assists.
Braelyn Wood, Audrey Meyercourt and Avery Meyercourt paced Rock Port with six kills each, while senior Addie Maifeld led the way with 18 assists and 14 digs.
It’s been a year of growth for Rock Port’s young team, featuring nine juniors, with seven freshmen and two sophomores. After starting the year 0-6-1, the Blue Jays rallied and were one game away from a trip to Cape Girardeau.
“We started 0-6 and just made a lot of progress with a lot of growth leading up to this season,” Parsons said. “We had new coaches, so we took our upperclassmen and retrained them to what we wanted, and we took a lot of our freshmen and integrated them into those upperclassmen. It’s definitely something to be proud of.”
The Blue Jays also had five seniors pull on a Rock Port jersey for the final time Saturday, including Maifeld, who has nearly 650 assists this year, Avery Meyercourt, Claire Spiegel, Jamie McEnany and Callie Driskel.
“They were our leaders on our team,” Parsons said. “Adi captained our team throughout … and was our consistent strength. Props to our assistant coach Jamie Wood as she knows the setting very well and has coached Addie who has gained a great understanding of the game over the season.”
While the Blue Jays’ season ends at 16-15-2, Santa Fe moves to the state seminar where they await the Advance/Bernie winner.
You can check out the full interview with Coach Parsons below: