Even though her Montgomery County volleyball team lost its Eastern Missouri Conference opener to North Callaway on Sept. 4, first-year coach Carli Bleyle is not panicking.

She still believes that her squad will get back on top of the EMO this year. Last year, the Wildcats had their 49-match conference winning streak snapped and their six-year run as conference champions came to an end.

“Conference is still a 100 percent possibility,” Bleyle said. “That is their main goal right now. Last year was the first time they lost conference in a while and that’s still 100 percent doable. We just have to come out a little better, a little stronger and a little grittier after this game. So that’s what they’re fighting for every day in practice. So now I know I need to push them and make them work a little bit harder.”

MCHS lost 16-25, 18-25, 18-25 to the Thunderbirds, making it the first time since 2017 the program lost an EMO home match. The Wildcats led 9-4 in the first game before North Callaway rallied to win. They led 13-10 in the third game before being outscored 15-5 the rest of the way.

“I got to give it to North Callaway,” Bleyle said. “They’re incredibly scrappy. I saw really good moments from our girls. So I’m incredibly proud of them for that. It also showed me some things that we have to work on, which is great because we get to play North Callaway again.”

The Wildcats will play North Callaway again on Sept. 18 on the road. They also play Wright City and Centralia twice and Bowling Green once more in conference play. They defeated Bowling Green in five games on Sept. 9 at home for their first EMO win.

Last year, MCHS finished 4-4 in EMO play. All four of its wins came at home.

Bleyle said she was pleased with the performance from sophomore Mieka Ray against North Callaway. In the third game, Ray scored a kill to give the Wildcats a 13-10 lead they later relinquished.

“Mieka has really stepped up as a leader,” Bleyle said. “She’s talking to everyone on the court, making sure everyone is up. She’s got some killer hits and killer defense. She really stepped up as a sophomore and it kind of helps being one of my captains and leading the way there.”

Ray is one of three returning players from last year’s team that won four matches.The others are juniors Khloe Kribbs and Megan Pierson. MCHS has two seniors, six juniors and three sophomores on its varsity roster.

Bleyle replaced Rachel Leu as head coach after working as an assistant the last three years. Her head coaching tenure began on Aug. 30 with a long road trip as the Wildcats traveled to Columbia to compete in the Tolton Catholic Tournament. They went 0-3 in the event, losing to Kirksville, Boonville and Hallsville.

In the past, MCHS always began its season with a match against Hermann. But Bleyle decided to schedule a tournament in August to get her players prepared for the match against Hermann, which was three days later.

“Hermann has a tournament,” Bleyle said. “They get to play right before we play them. So we go play them as our first game and first time ever on the court and Hermann already played four or five games because they’re in a tournament, so they get that experience. I wanted that for our girls. I wanted them to come out and start the season as prepared as humanly possible.”

The Wildcats lost to Hermann in three games (15-25, 16-25, 19-25) on Sept. 2 on the road. Kribbs finished with five kills, Pierson recorded 13 digs and Ray had seven assists. Bleyle said she was pleased with her team’s effort despite the loss.

“They came out much stronger than they had in the past because they got to get all of that weirdness and first-time jitters out in our tournament in Columbia,” the coach said. “That was the thought behind getting them an early season tournament.”

The Wildcats began their home season with the match against North Callaway. They have seven home matches remaining.  Their next home match will be on Sept. 11 against New Haven .