The Montgomery County volleyball team is excited about Aug. 30.

The Wildcats not only start their season against the defending Class 2 state champion Hermann Bearcats, but they also will be playing with new uniforms and on a refurbished Ballew & Snell Court.

“The closer we get to games, the more exciting it’s going to be for them,” MCHS coach Rachel Leu said. “I can’t wait to see what we will do this season. I think it’s going to be really good. I think we’re going to be a fun team to watch this year.”

With seven returning players, the Wildcats are looking to improve on last year’s record of 10-14-3. Their 2021 season ended on a disappointing note, losing to Centralia in a Class 3, District 7 semifinal match.

“I think we’re going to be really competitive,” said Leu, who will be in her ninth season as MCHS coach. “We have a good group of girls. They have been playing together for a long time.”

Seniors Bailey Fischer, Carson Flake and Addison Schluss are back for their fourth and final seasons with the Wildcats. Last year, Fischer earned first-team Eastern Missouri Conference and second-team all-district honors.

“We’re really going to look for their experience as well as their leadership vocally and just really help carry our team to help out girls,” Leu said.

The other players are juniors Clare Cobb, Morgan Koch, Madi Polston, Ellie Robinson and Olivia Shaw. Shaw picked up a first-team all-district award in 2021.

The Wildcats start their EMO season on Sept. 1 with a road match against North Callaway. They are looking to win their fifth straight EMO championship and their 11th overall this fall. Last year, MCHS went 8-0 in league matches.

“With us, we have a target on our back,” Leu said. “We just want to make sure that we don’t let the pressure of that get to us. We don’t want to take it for granted that we won it the past four years because that’s in the past. We want to focus on now. To make sure that no matter who is the opponent, we always play the best volleyball that we can play that night.”

The Wildcats are also aiming to end a 24-year district championship drought. They have won nine district titles in their history, but haven’t won one since 1998.

“Winning a district championship or making it to the district finals is always the goal,” Leu said. “I think that’s a more realistic goal than what it has been for the past couple of years. It’s something that no matter what hand we get dealt in districts, I think we’re going to be one of the teams for sure.”

Leu said her team prepared for this season by playing in a tournament in Jefferson City.

“We didn’t have the whole team, but we had enough. We were able to do pretty well and play some good competition,” the MCHS coach said. “We played some teams from Illinois that we normally don’t see.”

The Wildcats will have 10 home matches this year. They will start their home season on Aug. 30 against a Hermann team that won 31 matches and captured its 15th state crown last fall.

“It makes you have to be ready for your first match,” Leu said. “Even though it’s Hermann and we know they’re going to be tough, it’s a good measure to see where you’re at as far as competing goes. It also makes us super ready because our next game is a conference game. Either way, win or lose, we’re playing a good team and we know that we have to be at our best. That just sets the tone for the rest of the season.”