CHCS volleyball holds off TJ in hard-fought match

Sep. 30—College Heights Christian's pregame preparation was anything but ordinary ahead of its Thursday night volleyball clash with Ozark 7 Conference rival Thomas Jefferson.

"We showed up tonight a little bit spread out," CHCS head coach Mary Colin acknowledged.

After school, the Cougars took team photos inside their new facility at CHCS Athletic Complex, formerly known as Elevate the Game. That photoshoot threw College Heights a curveball as it set the team back on time.

"We literally ran into the gym late," Colin said.

But the Cougars quickly adjusted to the speed of the match by taking the first two sets against Thomas Jefferson en route to a hard-fought 3-1 victory inside TJ Fieldhouse.

Individual set scores were 25-14, 25-21, 25-27 and 25-16.

"From the start, you saw we were not warm and we did not move well," Colin said. "We slowly tried to fix that part of the game. They did. We got good shot selection and it was just a matter of taking the smart part of their game, getting their energy and momentum because it's hard to speed up if you don't warm up well. Not like volleyball warmup, but literally agility, jumping and stretching. They fixed that part of the game. I'm super proud of them."

College Heights (16-5-1) picked up its first victory since standout Addie Lawrence has been out due to injury.

"Statistically, we could have won our last two matches," Colin said. "We lost in five and obviously won two of the three. Addie is a powerhouse. She's scored a lot of points for us, so it's become finding points in other places. It's the girls figuring out how to find points in other places. They are all great kids. It's big and Addie was even on the bench cheering them on, which is awesome for us."

Clinging to an 11-10 lead midway through the first set, the Cougars rattled off four unanswered tallies on the strength of two kills from Libby Fanning and one kill from Lindsay Griesemer.

College Heights pulled away to claim a 11-point win in the first set, punctuated by a kill from Maddy Colin.

The Cougars had all the momentum early in the second set, grabbing an 8-4 lead after a Cavalier attack error. Thomas Jefferson cut the hole to 17-15 later in the set before two kills from Lauren Ukena and a kill from Ava Masena stretched College Heights' lead to 20-15.

Fanning and Griesemer added back-to-back kills to clinch a four-point win in the second set for the Cougars. The third set was a back-and-forth one that saw a plethora of lead changes, but the Cavaliers outlasted College Heights by two to make the match 2-1.

In the fourth set, Masena capped a 4-0 run with an ace to give the Cougars a 6-2 lead. Thomas Jefferson responded with a furious 13-5 burst to take a 15-11 advantage following an ace from Macie Shifferd.

But College Heights did not waver. The Cougars answered with 10 unanswered points, highlighted by four straight aces from Griesemer, to take a 21-15 lead.

After Lannah Grigg recorded a kill for the Cavaliers, College Heights closed out the match on a 4-0 run to secure the win.

Not only that, the Cougars avoided going to five sets for what would have been a third straight contest. College Heights fell to Golden City and East Newton in five-set matches earlier this week.

"We had every intention of not going five," Colin said. "They truly left our last timeout and pushed as hard as they could to avoid playing another five-set match tonight. I'm super, super proud of them for that."

A senior, Ukena registered a double-double with 18 kills and 10 digs. Fanning contributed 13 kills, while Griesemer chipped in nine kills and a team-leading five aces.

Colin handed out a team-high 39 assists with 17 digs, three kills and one ace. Masena led the defense with 23 digs

Thomas Jefferson (9-10) was led by Grigg with 13 digs and seven kills. Gabbi Hiebert added 10 digs, six kills, four assists and two blocks.

Nico Carlson handed out a team-best five assists. Mary Nguyen compiled 13 digs, five kills and three assists.

"I wanted them to compete. That's what I said at the beginning of the season," Cavaliers coach Dave Soetaert said. "I wanted to come in and compete. I want the other team walking out the door knowing they competed. Points will fall where they fall. We competed. They had some great plays. They are a good team.

"They are a perennial powerhouse around here. Big rival down the street. We haven't beat them in a gazillion years. In my four years, I think that's the first time we got a set off them. It could have been more, but it could have been less, too. I'm really proud of the girls. They fought hard. A couple of things here and there could have been different."

Thomas Jefferson plays in the Southwest Volleyfest in Washburn this weekend while College Heights plays at McDonald County on Monday.