In a potential district championship preview, College Heights Christian earned a 3-1 win over host McAuley Catholic in Ozark 7 volleyball action on Monday.
The Cougars defeated the Warriors 25-12, 27-29, 25-14, 25-18.
These two teams may see each other next week with the season on the line, as the Cougars (19-3) and Warriors (13-12) are the top two seeds for the Class 1 District 8 tournament in Verona.
“Tonight was big,” College Heights coach Mary Colin said. “It was a big match. That was super fun. I thought they (McAuley) were super aggressive and they rallied when it seemed like the chips were down. They kept battling back. They forced us to do things right, which was fun.”
Asked whether she thought the two teams could collide with a district championship up for grabs next week, Colin said, “Absolutely.”
McAuley coach Darrian Haralson noted her team would love to meet the Cougars in a district title match.
“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Haralson said. “We’re going to push our hardest. And we hope and pray that we’ll get to play them.”
Haralson noted her team just came off a two-week quarantine due to COVID-related issues.
“For our first game back, we played hard and we played well,” Haralson said. “It was a tough loss. They really wanted to win that one. But College Heights is a good team. We’re doing our best. Our team pushed hard. They’re tired. It’s hard to come off a two-week leave and come into a hard game. In the end, we kind of got a little lazy and let them take it. My team really wanted to win. They just couldn’t pull through in the end and that’s a bummer.”
Senior Catie Secker did a little bit of everything for the Cougars, compiling 21 digs, 14 kills, 14 service points and seven aces.
College Heights senior libero Avery Good had a team-high 35 digs, while senior setter Sarah Painter handed out 43 assists and senior outside hitter Lainey Lett had 18 kills. Senior middle blocker Layne Jackson had five blocks.
Sophomore Lily Black led the Warriors with seven kills at the net, while classmate JoJo Wheeler had 28 digs. Senior Carmen Colson had seven assists, freshman Kloee Williamson served three aces and senior Kate Huthsing had two blocks.
The Cougars rolled in the first set, as the visitors pulled ahead 20-10 with senior Kaynahn Burk serving. Secker and Jackson had late kills in the set for the Cougars.
McAuley took an early 7-4 lead in the second set after an ace from Williamson.
The Cougars gained the momentum and appeared to be in control of the set with a 21-15 advantage. The Warriors put together a furious rally, and the score was tied at 27 after a CHC service error. McAuley scored the next two points, as Black had a block at the net before Colson served the set-ending ace.
The Cougars responded in the third set, however, leading 16-8 en route to victory after an ace from Good and a kill from Secker.
In the fourth set, College Heights led 15-10 after an ace from Burk. Late kills from Secker and a block from Jackson finished off the set and the match.
“Anytime you’re on someone else’s home court, you have to battle against momentum, the crowd and some energy, so I thought they did really well at that,” Colin said of her team.
The Cougars simply had more weapons at the net with Secker, Jackson, Lett and Emma Woodford.
“We’ve got some firepower,” Colin said. “And we’re really good servers, which is nice. We had some serving errors and that messed with our flow, but they did a good job of bouncing back.”
Both teams return to action on Tuesday night, as College Heights hosts Exeter and McAuley travels to Pierce City.
The district tournament will be held next week in Verona. The top-seeded Cougars play the Wheaton-Verona winner in the semifinals at 5 on Oct. 27. Second-seeded McAuley meets either Thomas Jefferson or Exeter at 6:15.
“It’s our first year in Class 1 and it’s going to be fun,” Colin said. “It’s all of our conference schools, so we’ve already seen everyone and played everyone, which is unusual for us because we usually go into a district having maybe played one or two of the teams.”
