Platte County middle hitter Maren Mair recorded a double-double Monday at Platte County High School.
The senior’s 13 blocks — nine aces — and 10 kills helped the Pirates to a 25-23, 22-25, 25-12 win against visiting Lee’s Summit North in a non-league matchup. Platte County had won 10 straight entering Thursday’s matchup with Kearney since their lone defeat of the season against Liberty, and Lee’s Summit North was the first in the span to force a third set against the high-powered Pirates.
“We all really read the setter well,” Mair said. “We really pushed all over and tried hard — just talk it out and motivate each other.”
The decisive set against Lee’s Summit North looked as if it would remain tight after a 4-4 tie early. The Pirates took a slight edge at 8-5 before a strong run of service points from Teryn Scott pushed the lead to 13-5.
Platte County took the slight edge to a double-digit advantage prompting a timeout from Mustangs coach Rhea Moses at 18-8. The Pirates ended up committing just one service error during the match, and the lead never dipped to single digits.
“The girls can bring out confidence,” Platte County coach Jan Patterson said. “They know even in tough situations we can do what we need to on our side of the net and get things done. This is the first three-set match we’ve had this season so this is a good win for us.”
Platte County (22-1-1) now readies for the Truman Invitational, scheduled for Oct. 11.
The 16-team field includes unbeaten Liberty (17-0-1), ranked No. 1 in Class 4 in the most recent Missouri High School Volleyball Coaches Association poll. Still unranked in Class 4, the Pirates immediately rebounded from its previous loss to Liberty and went 5-0 to claim the Grandview Invitational on Sept. 27 before knocking off No. 3-ranked Lee’s Summit West in straight sets two days later.
To win their third tournament of the season, the Pirates would likely need to find a way to unseat the top-ranked Blue Jays on Saturday at Truman.
“It will hopefully bring the best out of us and let us know that when we get in tight spots we can still come out and do what we need to do,” Patterson said.
In the win against Lee’s Summit North, Kenedy Knox also recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 14 assists to go with four ace blocks. Scott added 13 digs.