The Montgomery County volleyball team breezed through the competition in the Eastern Missouri Conference this fall, winning all six matches to win its sixth straight conference crown.

Now, the Wildcats will look to breeze out of Hermann with their first district championship in 25 years. MCHS is the No. 3 seed in the seven-team, Class 2, District 6 tournament at Hermann High School and will play the Calvary Lutheran Lions in a quarterfinal match at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 17. Calvary Lutheran, which is located in Jefferson City, is seeded sixth.

The Wildcats are not hosting a district tournament for the first time since 2016, when they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by host-Tolton Catholic.

Last year, MCHS knocked off Tolton Catholic in the semifinals of the district tournament at Ballew & Snell Court. The Wildcats could face the Trailblazers in the semifinals again this year if they beat Calvary Lutheran on Oct. 17. Tolton Catholic is the No. 2 seed and will play seventh-seeded New Bloomfield at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals, which will also be played on Oct. 17.

The Wildcats played only two district opponents. They started their season on Aug. 29 with a three-game loss to Hermann and knocked off North Callaway twice in conference play.

Hermann is the top seed in this year’s district tournament. The Bearcats won district crowns in each of the last seven years. Last year, they defeated MCHS in three games in the district finals en route to a second-place finish at the Class 2 state tournament.

MCHS senior Madi Polston said playing for a second-place team in districts in 2022 was one of the best highlights of her volleyball career.

“We didn’t come out with the win, but we still played really well,” she said.

The Wildcats finished 6-0 in EMO play, all of their wins were in three games. They wrapped up their conference season on Oct. 5 with a three-game win over the Bowling Green Bobcats on the road. MCHS extended its conference winning streak to 49 matches.

The Wildcats also won their sixth straight league championship and their 12th overall. They also won titles from 1988-1993.

“It’s a great program,” MCHS senior Ellie Robinson said. “Our coach (Rachel Leu) has been coaching for a long time. She has a lot of experience. We have a good team right now.”

MCHS defeated Bowling Green 25-14, 25-23 and 25-12. In the second game, the Bobcats rallied to tie the Wildcats 23-23 before MCHS went on a 2-0 run thanks to two Bowling Green hitting errors. The win helped give Polston, Robinson and seniors Olivia Shaw, Morgan Koch and Claire Cobb their third EMO conference championship.

The Wildcats also turned in a strong season at home, winning six out of eight matches. They wrapped up their home season on Oct. 3 with a three-game victory over Centralia in their annual Pink Out match. MCHS also had home wins over North Callaway, Bowling Green, St. Louis Christian Academy, Wright City and New Haven and lost matches to Union and St. Clair.

MCHS finished its regular season at 11-12-4 after beating Hallsville in three games on Oct. 9. In that match, Shaw broke the school-record mark for most kills in a career with 750.