Following a 6-2 start to the season, the West Platte volleyball team fell in its first conference match of the season when East Buchanan came to town and defeated the Blue Jays in five sets on Sept. 16.
Lady Blue Jay’s freshman Arianna Nower jumps up to spike tha ball over the net at West Platte high School on Sept. 16.
This was the third matchup of the season between the conference foes as the Blue Jays and Bulldogs split a pair of matches when they played each other in the KCI Tournament on Aug. 31. West Platte had won five consecutive matches before it hosted East Buchanan on Sept. 16, and the Blue Jays started the match off strong in their loss to East Buchanan.
West Platte won the first set 25-15 and held on to the second set 25-21 to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Blue Jays struggled in the third set, only scoring 13 points, and the Bulldogs used that as momentum moving forward.
“The first two sets were the cleanest sets we have played all season; the girls were aggressive and attacked difficult spots,” West Platte head coach Connor Kellerstrass said. “Through the last three sets, we were not as clean and had some unfortunate, unforced errors.”
East Buchanan capitalized to take the fourth set in a nail-biting 25-22 win to force a fifth set. In another highly competitive back-and-forth set, the Bulldogs pulled out a 15-13 victory to defeat the Blue Jays 3-2 on the match.
“The last two sets were very competitive, and it just was not our night. There were a lot of bright spots along with areas of improvement and we are excited to keep getting better as the season progresses,” Kellerstrass said.