Lady Panthers three peat as district champions

The Mountain Grove Lady Panthers’ volleyball team clinched a three-peat on Saturday, Oct. 26 when they rallied to defeat Hollister in the Class 3, District 11 championship game.
Mountain Grove’s win gives them a Class 3 state sectionals match-up with an 18-12-2 Mt. Vernon squad on Halloween on the Lady Mountaineers’ home court. As of press time, no start time had been released for the Thursday contest.
In the district championship game with an 18-12-5 Hollister team the Lady Panthers beat in three straight sets in their third match of the season, the Lady Tigers came out firing in the finals and gave Mountain Grove an early scare.
The Lady Panthers were up 4-3 early in the first set when the Lady Tigers scored seven straight points to take a 10-4 lead.
Sophee Peterson picked up a block and then a kill to eventually cut the lead to 14-11.
Raylee Stenzel would soon pick up a pair of kills and Mountain Grove eventually tied things at 17-17.
Hollister would eventually go back in front 22-19 before holding on to win the first set, 25-22.
Mountain Grove opened the second set with a 3-1 lead and would go up 12-9 after two Peterson kills and a Stenzel touch hit that found an empty floor.
Stenzel then picked up three kills and added a block during a six-point run for an 18-10 edge.
The final four points came from three Stenzel kills and one from Peterson as Mountain Grove won set two, 25-16.
Hollister jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the third set. They scored four straight points moments later to go up 10-7.
The Lady Tigers then scored four straight to open up a 15-10 lead when the Lady Panthers rallied to tie the match at 16-16.
Landry Golden and Peterson would soon pick up back-to-back points followed by Hollister’s long hit and MaKenna McGowan’s ace for a 21-18 edge.
At set point up 24-20, the Lady Tigers cut the lead to one before Stenzel’s kill sealed a 25-23 win.
Golden’s kill early on in the fourth set gave Mountain Grove a 9-7 lead.
Stenzel had three kills in a row to extend the Lady Panthers’ lead to 18-11. She then had four kills, including the one to score the final point, giving Mountain Grove a 25-17 fourth set win and a district championship.
“I knew we would be a little nervous and played tight (early on),” said Mountain Grove head coach Ashley Kell. “Once it clicked, we found our rhythm and there wasn’t any doubt.”
As for the rest of the postseason, Coach Kell said her team will have to start out firing from here on out as it may be too difficult to rally against some of the other teams they play in the postseason.
She also added that she was so happy for her seniors Raylee Stenzel, Erecka Penner, Landry Golden and Makenna McGowan for winning a third district championship.
The Lady Panthers are now 27-3-1.