The Warrenton Lady Warriors won two close sets in their three-set win over Wright City last week.
Warrenton (15-16) beat Wright City (6-12-1) 25-23, 25-13, 26-24. The Lady Warriors overcame a 14-11 deficit in the first set. They held a 23-19 lead in the final set. Wright City won five of the next six points to tie the set at 24-24 before Warrenton won the last two points to win the match.
Warrenton volleyball coach Randy Kindschuh knew the match would be a tough one for the Lady Warriors. Wright City played Warrenton tough at the Megan Gross Invitational earlier this season. Kindschuh believes this is Wright City’s best team in his nine years at Warrenton.
Kindschuh said Warrenton’s service game got Wright City out of system in the second set. He specifically noted the quality serves by Emily Likes and Kaelyn Meyer to help Warrenton win the second set.
“Emily Likes she came and served a pretty good run and Kaelyn Meyer came and served a pretty good run,” Kindschuh said. “We were picking on a couple different people that we thought maybe couldn’t handle it. And that was the difference. In the third game, we weren’t attacking as much with our serve.”
Kindschuh said the Lady Warriors were prepared for Wright City’s short service game, which the Lady Wildcats used at the Megan Gross Invitational.
“They short served us. And we practiced that,” Kindschuh said. “We prepared for that. In that tournament, they short served us and really hurt us with their short serve. So we were ready for that tonight for the most part.”
Wright City volleyball coach Christine Goldsmith thought the Lady Wildcats played well in the match. She noted the quality hitters in Warrenton’s lineup.
“They came into this game wanting it to be senior night because they knew it was going to be the best game we played,” Goldsmith said. “The most hyped energy. The most we are competitive against. So I think that gave us a lot of recoupment; even when we were down a couple points, we got right back up.”
Goldsmith saw urgency in the Lady Wildcats when they trailed Warrenton late in the third set. Warrenton led by as many as six points in the final set.
“I think they saw it on the scoreboard and they were like, we’ve got to go,” Goldsmith said. “We made adjustments. We talked about it. Everybody was ready to move and make those changes. So I think that helped us a lot to come back up.”
Rayne Van Reed led the Lady Warriors with 25 kills of the team’s 47 kills, which is two short of a school record. The school record of 27 kills was set in a five set match. Chandler Blondin led Warrenton with 12 service points. Likes contributed with 11 service points and Meyer had 10 service points. Likes had 40 assists.
Jasmin Simpson had seven of Wright City’s 13 kills. Cayle Redmon led Wright City with four kills. Simpson recorded an ace for Wright City.