The Warrenton and Wright City volleyball teams played five games on Sept. 28 for the Megan Gross Invitational. After three games, Warrenton advanced to the championship bracket to place third overall. Wright City went to the consolation bracket and placed eighth.

In pool play, the Warriors faced off against Wright City, Mexico and Fort Zumwalt East and won all six sets. Warrenton advanced to the semifinals against St. Louis Christian and after three long sets of back-and-forth play, the Warriors fell.

However, they rebounded in the third place match against Fort Zumwalt East, beating them in two sets again.

“I feel great. Last year, we were eighth in this tournament so it was a much better outcome for us,” Head Coach Kayla Nelson said. “They really clicked well as a team.”

Nelson noted that everything was working and being put into place. She specified Avery Shaw as a player who did a phenomenal job throughout the day.

“She’s very much our hard hitter and she gives us a lot of momentum and I think her just being on, the girls get excited for her,” Nelson said.

Nelson said that their culture of “ACE” (attitude, communication and effort) has helped add to their success on the court.

Nelson saw examples of girls embodying their team culture, such as constantly uplifting and motivating one another.

“These girls are family off the floor and on the floor and they know those are the three things that we’re looking for going into every game,” Nelson said. “Obviously, it’s much easier on the winning side of things, but they’re getting better at handling it on both sides.”

Wright City also played in the day tournament but lost 10 sets. The Wildcats came close in a couple of games, but could not capitalize.

“It’s hard because it’s not the level of volleyball that I expect out of them,” Head Coach Shannon Brunnert said. “I told them that going forward, ‘what are we going to do with these losses that we had?’ Are we going to continue to lose or are we going to continue to win?’ So it’s just kind of up to them.”

Brunnert said the team struggled mentally and their skill started to fall apart as the day went on. She also said the Wildcats came out tired since they are not used to playing early in the morning.

She went on to say that there were moments of really good play and moments that were not so good.

Throughout the day, Brunnert noticed that every game was different. In the first game, she said they did not come out fast enough. In the second, they came out fast enough but panicked a little. In their third game against Warrenton, the Wildcats started to put things together and pick up the play, but afterward they digressed.

“It’s hard when you’re losing every game, especially with them being so young, it’s hard to keep their mentality so positive,” Brunnert said.

Brunnert spoke about staying positive through the losses because it can make all the difference.

“Regardless of how the rest of the season pans out, I just want them to know that we still have a lot of years left with this program, like most of them do,” Brunnert said.
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