Kendall Johnson serves the ball in the Lady Pirates 3-0 win in the opening round of the Class 4 District 8 Tournament on Oct. 22.
For the fourth time in the last five years, the Platte County volleyball team (24-9) will be playing in a district title match after the Lady Pirates took down Smithville (13-9-3) in three sets on Oct. 24.
Before the postseason began, Platte County claimed its first White Division title – in the first year in that division of the Kansas City Suburban Conference – with an impressive 46 straight conference wins dating back to 2018 being snapped with a five-set loss to Grain Valley (15-16) on Oct. 13. In the last three seasons, the Lady Pirates never lost a conference match en route to back-to-back-to-back Blue Division titles.
Platte County fell short in its final two regular season matches, including the regular season finale against Blue Springs South (13-14) in five sets on Oct. 18, but bounced back in the postseason. The White Division champions entered the Class 4 District 8 Tournament as the No. 1 seed and took down Kansas City’s East (16-10-2) with ease in the opening round on Oct. 22.
In a clean sweep to start postseason play, Platte County only allowed 20 points by the Lady Bears in the entire match. Platte County won the first and third sets by 25-7 and had a 25-6 win in set two.
Karsyn Stehlik finished the opening match with 10 kills, along with three digs. Emma Harned dished out 14 assists, while Kendall Johnson and Madison Hoyt both had two blocks and Tatianna Murray had seven aces.
In the Class 4 District 8 Semifinals, the Lady Pirates came out with another comfortable sweep, doing so over fourth-seeded Smithville. Platte County took an early lead in the opening set, scoring the first five points and leading 8-1 early before an ace by Johnson on the final serve resulted in a 25-13 win.
The Lady Pirates were in control once again in set two – going up 15-10 midway through – and took a 2-0 match lead when outscoring the Lady Warriors 25-15. After taking yet another big lead at 16-5 in the third set, Jenna Wheeler set up Johnson for the match-sealing spike as the junior led Platte County to a 25-12 victory.
Coming off two straight postseason sweeps, Platte County will take on Kearney (16-13-3) in the Class 4 District 8 Championship at Kearney High School on Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. The Lady Pirates swept the Lady Bulldogs in the only regular season matchup between the two squads this year on Aug. 29.