Montgomery County’s senior class of Addison Brower, Reaghan Hemeyer, Khloe Kribbs, Dakota Marion and Megan Pierson is very special to coach Carli Bleyle this fall.

The five seniors were among the first players Bleyle worked with when she joined the MCHS coaching staff in the 2023 season. Bleyle was assistant to Rachel Leu and coached the junior varsity team, which had eight freshmen, including Brower, Hemeyer, Kribbs, Marion and Pierson.

“It’s a little sad and a little emotional, but it’s also kind of fun,” Bleyle said. “I’ve been here for about four years now and we’re really getting in the rhythm of things here. It’s been really fun to see the progress.”

The five seniors are hoping to wrap up their high school volleyball careers by helping the Wildcats turn in a successful season. They return from last year’s team that won just three matches.

“I think they’re going to come out hungry this season,” Bleyle said. “Their goal is conference championship and get that back and get a few more wins under their belt this season. If anyone can do it, it’s this group. They’re very motivated, they work really well as a team and they can honestly do anything they put their minds to.”

The Wildcats have a total of eight returning players on varsity from last year. Also coming back are juniors Mieka Ray, Kiera Ray and Dakota Shipley.
Kiera Ray was the Wildcats’ lone representative on the all-Eastern Missouri Conference team. She recorded 293 assists in 22 matches and finished in double digits in assists 14 times.

Rounding out the varsity are juniors Harper Monsen, Emma Cobb, Brenna Gregory and Addie Schroer.

“We got a lot of numbers this year,” Bleyle said. “Unfortunately, we lost a few people this summer to injuries. We had a torn ACL and a broken arm, so we dropped a girl or two. Overall, we’re sitting at 26 girls, so we’ve got a good healthy number this year. We have a lot of good, young talent as well. It makes it really competitive, especially at our JV level. They’re all fighting for a chance to play. When I graduate five players next year, I’m not too stressed about it because (assistant coach Karlie) Holligan is doing an excellent job training our younger girls here.”

MCHS has a strong senior class this year. Last year, Kribbs was the team’s leader in kills and blocks, Pierson led the Wildcats in digs and service aces, Brower and Marion each had 96 digs and Hemeyer had 21 blocks.

The Wildcats begin their season on Aug. 29 at the Tolton Catholic Tournament in Columbia. Last year, they played in the event for the first time and finished 0-3.

Also, MCHS begins its home season on Sept. 1 with a home match against Hermann, which finished second in the Class 2 tournament in 2025.

Bleyle said there will be tough opponents such as Tolton Catholic and Linn competing in the season-opening tournament at Tolton Catholic.

“Getting to see them a little bit at the very beginning gives the girls something to work towards and it gives us a really good feedback because these are tough, hard teams we’ll go play in Columbia,” Bleyle said. “I feel like you only get better by playing better teams. I’m very excited. I’m happy we were able to get into this tournament. I’m happy that we’ve been able to keep it on our schedule because all it does is prepare us for our very first game against Hermann, which is historically a very, very tough team.”

Also, the Wildcats will have their annual Pink Out match on Oct. 12 against Hallsville. Three days later, they will end their regular season with a senior night match against Centralia.

Bleyle is in her second year as head coach this fall. Last year, her team picked up wins over Bowling Green, Mexico and Christian Fellowship. The Wildcats lost their first six matches before getting their first win.

“We just really struggled to finish,” Bleyle said. “We would get up by five points and we would just lose our lead. A little bit of that came from only three girls having played varsity the year before and everyone else being sophomores. So hopefully last year was a bit of a learning experience.”