The Montgomery County volleyball team was glad it had a much shorter drive to district tournament play this year.

After competing in the Class 2, District 5 tournament in Duchesne High School in St. Charles a year ago, the Wildcats made the 25-mile drive to Hermann for the Class 2, District 6 event.

Unfortunately, MCHS’ district tournament run at Hermann was short-lived. The Wildcats lost 14-25, 22-25, 21-25 to the North Callaway Thunderbirds in the district quarterfinals and ended their season at 3-24-3.

It was the third time this season the Wildcats lost to North Callaway. The Thunderbirds also beat MCHS twice during the regular season, both in three games.

“North Callaway is a strong team,” MCHS coach Carli Bleyle said. “We played them twice this year. But my big thing with our girls is improving every game. Our scores and how they played was better than both of the times they played North Callaway. That’s all I can ask of them. They got better each time they played them.”

MCHS trailed North Callaway 9-4 in the first game. The Wildcats got within 17-14 before the Thunderbirds went on an 8-0 run to take a 1-0 lead in games.

The Wildcats rallied to tie the Thunderbirds at 20 in the second game, but were unable to take the lead the rest of the game.

“I wished we could have finished it out,” Bleyle said. “We got really close. We just like to dig ourselves into a little hole and getting out of that hole is a little hard for them. But that’s something we can work on for next year. We’re so young.”

MCHS trailed 8-3 in the third game before rallying to tie it at 16-16. That’s as close as the Wildcats would get as North Callaway went on a 9-5 run to win the game and match.

“I’m sad that we lost, but we played really good,” said MCHS sophomore Keira Ray, who had 17 assists.

Junior Khloe Kribbs finished with 11 kills and five blocks and sophomore Mieka Ray and junior Megan Pierson each had 10 digs for the Wildcats, who were the No. 6 seed in the six-team district tournament.

Last year, the Wildcats were seeded second in the district tournament in St. Charles, but were eliminated by Whitfield in the semifinals.

Bleyle said she was thrilled to play in a tournament that was much closer to home this year.

“It makes my life easier and I like getting the chance to play some people we played in the season,” she said. “You have that potential to come back and win some games you didn’t before. I love just having come down the road. Hermann has great facilities. They’re always good hosts. I much rather come down here to them than having to travel to St. Charles or anywhere else.”

North Callaway, the No. 3 seed, was eliminated by second-seeded Linn in the semifinals on Oct. 23 and finished its season at 18-11-3. 

The Thunderbirds ended the high school volleyball career of Kylie Powell, the Wildcats’ only senior. Powell played with the MCHS program for three years.

With eight returning players, Bleyle is already looking forward to the 2026 season.

“They should have a heck of a season next year,” said Bleyle, who wrapped up her first year as MCHS coach. “We’re going to come out guns blazing 100 percent. I have full faith they’re capable of getting that conference championship back and having a phenomenal season. Now, they have a little more experience under their belt, they should have an incredible year next year.”

Bleyle said her team has already made plans for the off-season.

 “We already got extra summer stuff scheduled in the gyms and things like that. I’m already doing everything I can to look towards making them stronger for next year,” she said. “It hurts that they ended in a loss, but they played their hearts out and they progressively got better in each set they played. North Callaway was the better team tonight and that’s how it goes sometimes. I’m incredibly proud of them.”