The Warrenton and Wright City volleyball teams played in front of their most hostile crowd Monday night in Wright City, as students from both schools packed the stands.

“I think they were caught up in the crowd a little bit, so it was all about getting them refocused and getting them past the crowd,” Wright City Head Coach Amy Geurin said after her team’s three-set loss.

Warrenton cruised to a 25-17 win in the first set and was on the verge of ending the match in two.

The Warriors led 24-20 in the second set before a Wright City rally tied the game at 24 and 25.

“We made a lot of silly mistakes and that let them get a lot of free points,” Warrenton Head Coach Kristen McDowell said. “We have a goal of making the other team earn their points, and we just didn’t meet that goal today until the very end. But it eventually worked in our favor and that’s alright.”

Wright City won the second set, 27-25, and took a 19-16 lead in the final game.

“I thought we didn’t give up in that second game to cause a third game, and I was definitely proud of them for that,” Geurin said. “But we’ve played to a higher level, and I don’t think we played our best today. I think we could have stepped it up.”

Both coaches applauded the crowd, which was loud from the first serve.

McDowell said she told her players to feed off the energy.

Geurin believed her players got too excited at times.

“I wanted to calm them down,” Geurin said. “Sometimes as a coach you’re a  therapist, and you need to get them refocused at times. I think it’s always fun to have a rivalry, though.”

Warrenton tied the game at 19 before taking another 24-20 lead.

The Warriors wouldn’t relinquish the four-point advantage a second time.

Wright City scored to get within three before McDowell called a timeout to settle her players.

The decision worked, and Warrenton won on the next play to improve to 8-2 on the season.

“I don’t think they were nervous,” McDowell said of her players after giving away the second set. “They’ve been in situations like that before. We were down 21-8 to St. Charles West and came back there, so we’re pretty good at fighting our way back. But we’re trying to be more consistent throughout the whole match.”

Coming off a third-place finish in last weekend’s Orchard Farm Tournament, Geurin said her players knew they could have performed better Monday night.

“I think we need to take this game and know we can play to a higher level,” she said, “and that’s what we need to do going forward.”