By Don Kruse Record Staff Writer Wright City Coach James Baker knows how difficult it is to beat a team three times in a season. That was the painful outcome for his volleyball team Monday night in a …
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Wildcats fall in three sets in district opener
Posted
By Don KruseRecord Staff WriterWright City Coach James Baker knows how difficult it is to beat a team three times in a season.That was the painful outcome for his volleyball team Monday night in a three-set loss (20-25, 25-14, 24-26) to Montgomery County in the first round of the Class 2, District 6 Tournament at Hermann.The Wildcats, enjoying one of their finest seasons in years, came so close to advancing Monday against a Montgomery County team they had defeated two times in conference play earlier this year.Wright City ended the season with a 16-11 record.“We fixed some of the errors we made in the first set and started playing much better,” said Baker.“It’s just one of those things,” he added. “We got it going in the second game and I thought we were playing pretty well in the final set, but we had a few service errors that killed us.”The thrilling third game saw what could have been a disaster for Montgomery County when it had three points taken away after it was discovered that the squad served out of turn.Montgomery County was leading, 13-8, when the two officials were alerted to the illegal rotation and had a lengthy discussion about it. When play resumed, the officials took three points away from Montgomery County and awarded Wright City a point.Wright City trailed just 10-9 at that point, and went on to build a five-point lead, 21-16, before a service error ended the rally.Montgomery County came back and whittled the deficit to 22-20 before Wright City’s Sydnee Horneker served an ace for a 23-20 lead. It was tied at 24-24 when a couple of unforced errors by the Wildcats gave the match to Montgomery County.Amy Janowski, a junior outside hitter, had a big kill in Wright City’s run that saw her team jump out to the 21-16 lead in Game 3.In the first set, Wright City had a 10-7 lead after Samantha Benson scored on a tip kill, but then Montgomery County outscored the Wildcats 8-1. Wright City never recovered from it.In the second set, Janowski’s hitting and serving fueled a rally that saw Wright City build a 20-11 lead. She had two kills and served four points as the Lady Wildcats outscored Montgomery 7-2.It was a successful season for five Wright City seniors that ended in heartbreak.Playing their final high school match Monday were Sydnee Horneker, Samantha Benson, Crystal Kempernolte, Amber Schulte and Abigail Nitchman.Last Thursday at Montgomery County, Wright City won a three-set match for its second win of the season over Montgomery County, and Coach Rachel Leu’s squad was looking for revenge.“They were focused tonight and had winning this match in their minds from the first point,” said Leu, whose team improved to 10-14-1.
DeAsha Briner of Wright City drives the ball over the net against Montgomery County in a Class 2 contest Monday at Hermann. Photo by Don Kruse
