Lafayette girls volleyball rallies to beat rival Marquette in dramatic Missouri district championship match: Photos

Reigning Class 5 champion Lancers win in five sets

WEBSTER GROVES, MISSOURI – The Lafayette (Wildwood) girls volleyball team trailed rival Marquette by two sets on Tuesday and confronted the chance of its season crashing to a close in the third set.

The Lancers, the reigning Missouri Class 5 champions, refused to lose.

Lafayette emerged with a dramatic 34-32 win in the third set and then pulled out the five-set victory (21-25, 20-25, 34-32, 25-17, 15-8) to win the Class 5 District 2 championship at Nerinx Hall. 

The district title was the 16th in 17 seasons for Lafayette (33-2) – an honorable mention team in the SBLive Top 25 national high school girls volleyball rankings – and its 17th overall. 

Coach Zach Young's squad was led by standout senior setter Alyssa Nelson and her arsenal of options, including junior outside hitter Maya Witherspoon, senior outside hitter Allison Risley and 6-foot-2 freshman opposite hitter Shaye Witherspoon. 

Vote: Who should be SBLive's Missouri High School Athlete of the Week (10/23/2023)?

The Lancers, who have now won 19 straight matches since losing to Lee's Summit West on Sept. 16, advance to face host Jackson (29-6-3) in the Class 5 quarterfinals on Saturday in a rematch of the quarterfinals a year ago.

Marquette (30-6) avenged a loss to Eureka earlier this month by beating the Wildcats in five sets in the semifinals and was looking to do the same against the Lancers on Tuesday night. The Mustangs' 30 victories established a new single-season school record for wins.

Lafayette-Marquette girls volleyball

Photos by Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports

Photo by Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports

SBLive Top 25 national high school girls volleyball rankings (10/24/2023)

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- Nate Latsch | latsch@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveMiz