The Platte County Lady Pirates’ volleyball team returned home from Cape Girardeau with the Missouri Class 4 third place trophy.
The Lady Pirates fell in the semifinals to Parkway West in five sets before beating Nerinx Hall in three sets in the third place match on Thursday, Nov. 5, at the Show Me Center on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. Platte County head coach Katlyn Donovan told the Platte County Citizen that even though her team didn’t win the championship, the team walked off the court as the best team in school history.
DENNIS SHARKEY/Citizen Photo
Platte County senior Haley Luna had three blocks, five kills and two digs in the semifinal versus Parkway West at the Class 4 Missouri State volleyball championships on Thursday, Nov. 5.
“This group of seniors worked tremendously hard for four years and to come away with a trophy and a medal is an honor for them,” Donovan said. “We made school history by making it down here.”
Versus Parkway West in the semifinal the Lady Pirates were down 22-24 in the first set when Donovan called a timeout. Platte County then went on a 5-1 run to win the set 27-25.
The Lady Longhorns took the second set and had three different leads in the third set but could not hold off Platte County. Donovan called a timeout down 17-21 and the Lady Pirates scored four straight points forcing Parkway West to call a timeout with the match tied at 21-21.
The Lady Longhorns won the first two points to take a 23-21 lead after the timeout but the Lady Pirates rallied for four straight points to steal the third set 25-23.
The Lady Pirates fell behind early in the fourth set and never recovered and lost 18-25 to tie the match at 2-2, forcing the fifth set.
In the fifth set Parkway West continued to ride the momentum to a lead. Platte County battled back to within a point at 7-8 before losing 12-15.
Platte County, in the third place match versus the Lady Markers, battled back and forth with Nerinx Hall with both teams holding leads before pulling away late 25-21. The Lady Pirates took early leads in sets two and three and never looked back in winning 25-18 and 25-19 to close out the match in three sets.
“I’m proud of the way the girls were able to bounce back and not settle for the way they played in the semifinal match,” Donovan said. “Instead of giving them the game, they put up a battle. I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls this year and they deserved everything they got this year for sure.”
Just making it to the state semifinals is quite the accomplishment; however, the team did so under the most unusual circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At the beginning of the year we didn’t even think we would have a season,” Donovan said. “We were told we might have a season; we might not have a season, we’re going to have to wear masks, but the girls did everything they needed to do in order to have a season and we’re proud of how they were able to stay healthy through all this craziness that’s going on.”
Donovan said there will be a lot of things to remember about this team like the grit, the laughs, the cries, the ups and downs and everything in between.
“Everything about this season is memorable and as of now, this has been the best team in Platte County volleyball history,” Donovan said. “I just hope the girls are proud of the way they played today.”
Pick up or subscribe to the Citizen now for more sports coverage