After the Montgomery County volleyball team defeated North Callaway in three games on Sept. 19 in an Eastern Missouri Conference contest, Kool and the Gang’s Celebration was played at Ballew & Snell Court.

It was indeed a big celebration for the Wildcats as they picked up their first win of the season after losing their first six matches.

With the 25-20, 25-22, 25-23 victory, the Wildcats avenged the three-game loss to North Callaway in the Eastern Missouri Conference opener on Sept. 5 at Kingdom City. Before this season, MCHS had never lost to the Thunderbirds.

“I’m relieved, but I’m just more relieved for the girls because I knew we had it in us,” MCHS coach Rachel Leu said. “I knew that was the team that we were. For them to finally come out and do all of the things we know they can do and all of the things that we worked on, it makes my heart happy for them, honestly.”

Now, MCHS is setting its sights on celebrating its seventh straight EMO crown, something that has never been done in program history. Even though the Wildcats are off to a 1-3 start in league matches, their win over North Callaway gave them some confidence that they could walk away with another EMO championship.

“I feel like it’s a great momentum,” Leu said. “We’re fortunate enough to get to play everybody twice. I definitely think if we continue to play tonight like we did, we will have a shot. We will have a shot to win against Wright City and Bowling Green and then be prepared for the biggest test in Centralia because they’re going to be pretty competitive this year as well.”

The Wildcats play their next conference match on Sept. 26, when they host Wright City. They also have a home match against Bowling Green on Oct. 10 and two matches against Centralia (Oct. 8 on the road and Oct. 17 at home) left on their league schedule.

MCHS lost its first three conference matches to North Callaway, Bowling Green and Wright City. Going into this year, the Wildcats had a 49-match conference winning streak. They haven’t lost an EMO match since 2017.
North Callaway was 0-21 against MCHS before knocking off the Wildcats on Sept. 5. Leu said her team was determined not to lose to the Thunderbirds again when the two teams met again two weeks later.

“We lost in three, so we had to make a few changes position wise to help us with some consistency out there,” Leu said. “Honestly we just worked on making sure we’re trying to keep the serve as long as possible so we can build some points and not play side out, side out, side out, where we’re constantly trading points. When we’re able to build those leads and got on those serve runs, it really helped out. It boosted our confidence so that we didn’t feel like all of the pressure was on us. We had a little room to breathe and that helped us in that third set which was back and forth and helped the girls realize, ‘Hey, we can do this. Just stick with it.’”

In the first game, the Wildcats came back from a 12-11 deficit to take a 1-0 lead. With the second game tied at 22-22, MCHS went on a 3-0 run. After North Callaway rallied to tie the third game at 23-23, MCHS called a timeout. It took a 24-23 lead on a North Callaway violation and wrapped up the match with an ace from senior Avery Leu, the coach’s daughter.

“We’ve been waiting and working on staying patient and to have our seniors step up in moments,” Rachel Leu said. “They’re supportive of our younger players. I think they’re realizing that when we’re working together, then we can do whatever. We can win, we’ll play good volleyball and whatever happens happens. I felt like tonight was the best team effort out there.”

MCHS sophomore Megan Pierson played a key role in the first game. With North Callaway leading 12-11, Pierson served seven straight points, three of them were aces.

“Megan has a great serve, so we were really working on understanding that there’s no need to do anything extra,” Leu said. “Just get the ball to the area of the court we wanted. Let the rest take care of itself. We also talked about how we needed to start off better in our matches and let’s work on putting ourselves up and not digging ourselves in a hole.”

Before the win over North Callaway, MCHS was off to its worst start since 2012, when it lost its first five matches. Besides North Callaway, Bowling Green and Wright City, the Wildcats also lost non-conference matches to Hermann, Fatima and New Haven.

“It was tough,” Pierson said. “There have been a few tears shed. There have been thoughts of losing the love for the game.”

Pierson said she was glad her team got on the win column for the first time in 2024.

“It’s pretty exciting,” she said. “I think it’s a good way to show that even though we’re young, we’re still a good team. We can play well as a team and fill the shoes of the seniors who left.”