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Demons runner-up in SEC tourney
Burlington pulls out title from 3 seed; Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant 3rd and 4th
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KEOKUK — The Southeast Conference volleyball tournament is set up to put the Top-2 teams from the regular season up against each other in the final match of the round robin. By the time that game happened on Monday night in Keokuk, the writing was already on the wall.
Third-seeded Burlington spoiled all the fun for top-seeded Washington and second-seeded Fairfield by upsetting the Demons in the opening match of Day 2.
The Grayhounds, who came in 3-0 after upsetting Fairfield and knocking off both Ft. Madison and Keokuk on Day 1, had the championship in their site, but Burlington needed to take down the Demons to get it done.
After Washington pulled out a thrilling opening set 25-23, Burlington took control of both of the next two. The Grayhounds coasted to a 25-17 win in the second, and then jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the third.
Washington cut the Grayhound lead all the way down to one, but could never tie the set back up, as Burlington won the deciding set 15-12 to win the game and clinch the title.
“They battled hard,” said Washington head coach Aaron Six. “But we just kind of got ourselves in a hole in both of those sets that we lost.”
It was a bit of a flip from last season, when Washington beat Burlington in the final game of the tournament to take the title after losing to the Grayhounds in the regular season. The Demons did that as a No. 2 seed.
Washington did pull out a win in the final match. The Demons took down Fairfield 25-20 and 25-21 to finish the tournament 4-1.
“The girls did respond well after the lost to Burlington,” said Six. “Against Fairfield, we came out strong and continued to take control of the net.”
Leighton Messinger had 13 kills against the Grayhounds and 11 kills against Fairfield to lead the way for the Demons.
Fairfield did knock off Ft. Madison in the Trojans’ first match of the day. Leah Helmick led Fairfield with 14 kills in the victory.
The Trojans entered the day with a shot to win the SEC. If Washington beat Burlington and Fairfield beat Washington, it would have went down to a three-way tie situation, meaning the Trojans’ chances were also done in by Burlington’s first-match victory.
“We still wanted to play our level of volleyball and try to take care of business, but it is hard when you know before the last match of the day that it's not something you can win.” said Fairfield head coach Vicki Rebling. “I was very proud of the fight they gave all night, even knowing that.”
Mt. Pleasant still had to play three matches on Day 2, and the Panthers went 2-1.
Mt. Pleasant beat Ft. Madison 25-20 and 25-23, and knocked off Keokuk 27-25 and 28-26, but couldn’t spoil Burlington’s SEC title celebration, instead falling 25-19 and 25-15 to make Burlington a 5-0 squad.
Listed below are the final results for the 2025 SEC volleyball tournament.
FINAL STANDINGS
1. Burlington 5-0
2. Washington 4-1
3. Fairfield 3-2
4. Mt. Pleasant 2-3
5. Ft. Madison 1-4
6. Keokuk 0-6
