After her Montgomery County volleyball team lost to the Tolton Catholic Trailblazers in three games in a Class 2, District 6 semifinal match on Oct. 19 at Hermann, coach Rachel Leu had a tough task of saying goodbye to her large senior class in the locker room.
Claire Cobb, Morgan Koch, Madi Polston, Ellie Robinson and Olivia Shaw played their final high school volleyball matches for the Wildcats. They played with the MCHS volleyball program all four years.
“They’re a fun group to watch,” Leu said. “It’s heartbreaking when you go back there and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, we’re going to have a few more days together at least.’ Then, it was cut short. It was like saying goodbye to your family because we were around each other all of the time throughout the season. To all of the sudden have it cut short a few days earlier than what you’re planning for, it’s a hard pill to swallow for sure.”
The Wildcats lost 17-25, 23-25 and 21-25 to Tolton Catholic to end their season at 12-12-4. They advanced to the district semifinals with a three-game win over Calvary Lutheran in the district quarterfinals two nights before.
The loss to the Trailblazers denied MCHS a chance to play Hermann in the district finals for the second year in a row. Hermann, the top seed in the district tournament, qualified for the district championship match by defeating Linn in three games in the other semifinal match on Oct. 19.
“We went in all confident and we wanted to get back to Hermann,” Cobb said. “We just wanted to play them because they’re a really good team for us to play and they push us.”
With the win, Tolton Catholic avenged the five-game loss to the Wildcats in a district semifinal match at Ballew & Snell Court a year ago. The Columbia school won its 18th match, surpassing last year’s total of 16, and will finish with its second straight winning season.
The Trailblazers have four juniors, five sophomores and two freshmen on their roster. Coach Lei Francisco said she believes her team will have a bright future.
“It’s a program we’re trying to rebuild,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll get far.”
Tolton Catholic, which defeated New Bloomfield in the district quarterfinals, cruised to a 12-4 lead after the first game and went on to take a 1-0 lead in games. The Trailblazers came from behind in both the second and third games to win the match.
MCHS, the No. 3 seed, led 23-22 in the second game before second-seeded Tolton Catholic came back with a 3-0 run to take a 2-0 lead in games. The Trailblazers came back from an 18-14 deficit in the third game to win the match.
“They keep the ball in play,” Leu said. “Everything we threw at them, they were able to dig it up. Defensively, they just played smart and clean volleyball. When they needed big plays, they came up with big plays. They weren’t afraid to be aggressive. I felt like we missed some opportunities to put the ball away when we needed to. But that’s also attributed to the great defense that they played.”
Leu said she was pleased with her team’s effort despite the loss.
“The girls did everything that we asked for,” the MCHS coach said. “They played tough defense. They got to the ball. They made good passes. They took good swings. The frustrating part is even though they played so hard, they didn’t get the result that they wanted. It hurts just a little bit more that way.”
Tolton Catholic’s win also wrapped up a long volleyball career for Cobb. She started playing the sport when she was in fourth grade.
“I show up everyday and I work my butt off as well as all of the other players,” Cobb said. “We just really wished the season would have ended better, but we’re still thankful for coach Leu and her being able to coach us through hard situations. I’m very thankful for the season.”
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