Drew Aggus
Special to the Citizen
KEARNEY, Mo. — It took every single second of all three sets, but the Platte County began their journey back to the Class 4 District 16 championship match.
Last year, the Pirates were the top seed in the district, but they lost in the championship game to Park Hill. Now, Park Hill is gone, and in a district that looks extremely different from last year.
Platte County has a shot at redemption. That path started against the St. Joseph Central Indians, winning 2-1, at Kearney High School on Monday, Oct. 28.
The Indians hadn’t made it out of the first round of districts in over 10 years, and they were the lowest-seeded team in the tournament. So while it seemed like the Pirates had an easy opportunity to advance, the Indians showed up to play and fought.
In the first set, third-seeded Platte County was pretty dominant. They took an early 6-2 lead and never looked back. They were actually up 20-10, as well as 24-14. But when it came down to the last point, Central went into survival mode, scoring the next six.
Eventually, their server, Ivory Howat, served the ball out of play, and the Pirates took a 25-20 victory.
DREW AGGUS/Special to the Citizen
Platte County’s Nicola Kingery (13) goes up for a kill against St. Joseph Central during a Class 4 District 16 volleyball game at Kearney High School.
But the momentum that the Indians had built on those six consecutive points carried over into the second set.
Central jumped out to a quick 7-5 lead. But recent University of Kansas-commit Bryn McGehe served a pair of aces and tied it up.
“We just had to keep fighting — even if we were down,” McGehe said. “We just gave it all we’ve got and did what we could.”
Unfortunately for McGehe and the Pirates, the Indians would not quit, fighting their way to a 16-10 lead half-way through the set. But then, McGehe turned it on.
She took over and recorded six kills in Platte County’s next seven points.
The two teams went back and forth. Platte County would catch up and Central would extend their lead. This happened for the next several points.
The Pirates found themselves down 23-21, but then McGehe got a kill and Kate Brown served an ace. The game was tied 23-23; it was the first tie since the game had been 1-1.
The Indians took a timeout and then the teams traded blows.
With the score tied 24-24, the Indians took the next two points to win the second set 26-24.
The game was tied 1-1, and Platte County needed a big final set to take the win, as it felt like the Indians had all of the momentum.
Pirates coach Katlyn Donovan let her team know that she still completely believed in them and that they could perform just like they had in the first set.
“I told them that it’s got to go three and that we’re going to win this,” Donovan said. “I felt like we lost a little bit of trust in our teammates in the second set and we told them that if we get that trust back and get that energy back, we should be fine in that third set.”
Donovan said that the senior leadership of her team is vital to their success.
“As coaches, we can only do so much on the sideline,” Donovan said. “We have to rely more on the six girls who are out on the court to be the leaders for the teams. We’ve got a great group of seniors, who lead from the court and from the bench, and they do a tremendous job of that.”
Some of the seniors who stepped up were Riley Stehlik and Nicola Kingery, who both played well in the final set, along with McGehe, Brown and Presli Firkins.
The set went back and forth to start out, and the teams eventually tied 4-4. But Firkins served an ace, Brown and Stehlik got kills, McGehe got a block and the Pirates jumped out to a 14-5 lead.
They easily held on to the lead until it was 19-9, and then the Indians went on a huge run. On this 14-4 run, both teams used numerous timeouts but to no avail, as the game was tied 23-23 again.
Donovan settled her players down, and they went on to score the next two points to win the game 25-23.
She was very pleased with how her players handled themselves when faced with such adversity.
“We had a lead, let that lead go and then responded well with good composure and confidence within ourselves and our teammates,” Donovan said. “I liked that we kept fighting and kept our composure when the game got tight. St. Joe Central did a really great job of adjusting their defense to what we were hitting…but toward the end, our coaches kind of gave some tips and techniques, and the girls adjusted really well.”
For McGehe, all of the extra time perfecting their craft was a major contributor to their performance when it mattered most.
“We just spent a lot of time in the gym — working hard,” McGehe said. “We practiced on Sunday and on Friday, when we didn’t have school. And we practiced before this game, actually, in our own gym.”
The Pirates have won 12 straight and will move on to play the second-seeded Eagles of Liberty North on Tuesday, Oct. 29 in the district semifinal. The victor will play in the championship game against the winner of Liberty vs. Staley.