Addison Schluss was a serving machine for the Montgomery County volleyball team in an Eastern Missouri Conference home match against Wright City on Sept. 22 at Ballew & Snell Court.

The MCHS senior setter helped the Wildcats inch closer to another EMO crown by finishing with a season-high 30 serving points in MCHS’ three-game win (25-3, 25-18, 25-16) over Wright City. She took over the team in serving points with 92.

“I really enjoy serving,” Schluss said. “Actually, it’s one of my favorite things.”

The Wildcats improved to 6-0 in EMO play with two matches remaining. MCHS is looking to win its fifth straight conference crown and its 11th overall.

“It’s really good,” Schluss said. “I’m really proud of us. We worked really hard in practice.”

The Wildcats also defeated Wright City – which is also nicknamed the Wildcats – for the second time in 10 days. MCHS picked up a three-game win at Wright City on Sept. 12.

“I have never been happier as a coach in all of the years that I have coached,” MCHS coach Rachel Leu said. “I felt like we played the way we know we can play. Everybody was on it, defensively, offensively and serving. I had no complaints. Any mistakes that we did make, we were able to shake it off, move on to the play and continue to play with confidence throughout the whole set. We’ve been working on that consistency piece. I felt like it finally all clicked tonight. They’re just about unstoppable when they play like that, so I hope they stay at this level.”

The Wildcats’ next EMO match will be against Bowling Green on Oct. 6. They end their league season with a road match against St. Louis Intensity on Oct. 13. MCHS has a 41-match conference winning streak.

The Wildcats stormed to a 14-0 lead over Wright City in the first game. Schluss served all 14 points, including five aces.
“I put her as the first server for a reason,” Leu said. “Tonight, it showed. We get on a long run when she’s on the serving line.”

In the second game, MCHS led 11-9 before Schluss served seven straight points to boost the lead to 17-9. She served the final three points in the game to help the Wildcats take a two games to none lead.

The Wildcats took a 5-0 lead in the third game. Schluss served all five of those points and finished with six serving points in the game.

Schluss has been a valuable player for the Wildcats since she started playing varsity last fall. She finished with 441 assists in 2021 and has 132 this year. She recently received a player of the week award from the coaches.

“She makes really smart choices on the court,” Leu said. “She knows who to get the ball to when we need a kill.”

Schluss has been playing volleyball since she was 12 years old. She began playing setter at the end of her seventh-grade year at Montgomery County Middle School.

“I like being part of every play,” Schluss said. “Obviously, a kill feels really good when you get one. But I feel like setting up the kill feels better for me.”

Last year, Schluss replaced two-time all-EMO selection Anna Shaw as the team’s setter. She helped the Wildcats win 10 matches and capture a conference title.

“It was really good,” Schluss said. “I felt like all of us got along really well last year. It furthered our team along a lot. Bringing back a lot of our starters and having pretty much the same team other than a few of our juniors this year is definitely really good for us.”

Now, Schluss is looking to wrap up her high school volleyball career by helping her team finish with its second winning record in three years. MCHS improved to 6-3 overall with the win over Wright City.

“I think if we keep playing like this, we definitely can go really far,” Schluss said. “I think we have a really good chance at districts this year.”