Lady Pirates capture
MEC volleyball title
by Tad
Brewer
Landmark reporter
Entering their match against conference rival Savannah,
Platte County needed a victory to become Midland Empire
Conference Champions. The only MEC loss Platte County
had suffered was to Lafayette and if they beat Savannah
they would not have to share the title but would have
sole possession of it.
“We weren’t about to share the title,”
said head coach Kathy Hatfield. “We’re glad
we had opportunity to win it outright.”
In game one against Savannah, senior Kecia Willoughby
served five points in a row to break an 8-8 tie and moved
Platte County to a 13-8 lead.
“It was a great string of serves,” Hatfield
said. “[The serves] really helped put game one out
of reach for Savannah.”
After the string of serves, sophomore Brandie Scott entered
the game and gave the Lady Pirates their 14th and 15th
points. The final score of game one was Platte County
over Savannah 15-9.
Savannah started game two out with an early 4-3 lead.
This lasted only until the Lady Pirates tied them up at
five apiece. Then senior Megan Nichols entered the game
and served five straight points of her own to give Platte
County a 10-5 lead. Savannah was only able to pick up
two more points before Willoughby served another stretch
of five consecutive points. This gave Platte County the
15-7 victory.
“They really had trouble with our serving and it
kept them from getting on the attack with their 6’2”
and 6’ hitters,” said Hatfield. “They definitely
had some size advantage on us.”
The Lady Pirates combined for 26 total good spikes and
14 kills on the night.
Nichols, senior Erin McPherson, junior Cassie Philipi,
and sophomore Brea Schockey controlled the net for Platte
County. Philipi had five total blocks and three ace blocks,
Nichols had two ace blocks, and Schockey contributed one
ace block.
“Her [Philipi] contribution in the middle has been
great and just the boost we needed,” Hatfield said.
Junior setter Tara Porter had 7 assists to her teammates,
and McPherson led the team with 18 good passes. Seniors
Julie Cook and Jessica McCammon did a lot of passing and
digging to help keep the string of service points.
“We played the game with a lot of passion and a
lot of heart,” said Hatfield. “Determined to
go after one of our top goals of Conference Champions
and defending our title from last year.”
Earlier in the week, the Lady Pirates lost in two games
to Kearney by scores of 15-11, 15-2.
In game one, McPherson had 10 serving points, 7 in a
row, to mount a large 11-2 lead over Kearney. Kearney
was able to build up 13 points to get the lead and to
prevent the Lady Pirates form scoring the 4 points they
needed to win. Despite having all good serves in game
one, Platte County could just not get the four points
they needed for the win.
Kearney dominated game two and played with the momentum
on their side.
“We had good serves but just couldn’t win the
rallies as Kearney hitters really got on fire,” Hatfield
said. “We failed to block or dig effectively.”
McPherson led Platte County with 10 points, all of which
came in game one. Nichols had all four kills on the night.
Pirate blockers were able to split seven blocks among
them, but it still was not enough to stop Kearney.
“We definitely should have finished them off in
game one and had the momentum for game two, but didn’t
do it,” said Hatfield.
Platte County could face Kearney again in the district
championships if the Lady Pirates can win their first
two games.
Platte County ended their regular season with a 6-1 conference
record, and a 13-14-1 record overall for the season.
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