It’s a win, but it wasn’t as convincing as the Capital City volleyball team wanted it to be.
The Lady Cavaliers won the first two sets, but then the St. Clair Lady Bulldogs came within one point of forcing a fifth set Thursday night. However, Capital City won the final three points to secure a 26-24, 25-17, 22-25, 27-25 win at Capital City High School.
“We are working on consistency and not having compound errors,” Capital City coach Kelsey Vogler said. “That’s what made us go four sets tonight.”
St. Clair held set point at 24-23 in the first set. Jada Anderson extended the set with a kill, then after a Lady Bulldog attack error, Anderson recorded another kill to give the Lady Cavaliers a 1-0 lead.
Vogler felt the momentum from the end of the first set carried into an easy win in the second set.
“Whenever we have had tight games, we have to make sure we do the correct thing to finish a game to give us that momentum going into the next set,” she said. “If we don’t finish that set, we could’ve easily spiraled.”
Gallery: Capital City Volleyball vs. St. Clair
Anderson gave the Lady Cavaliers a big boost in the second set, picking up two kills and three blocks during a 13-5 start.
“She has stepped up a ton this year with her presence in the front row, blocking and hitting,” Vogler said of Anderson, who finished with nine kills and five blocks. “She’s just becoming a double threat for us. Whenever she’s on her game, you better watch out.”
The Lady Cavaliers led by as many as 11 points in the second set at 22-11 following a service ace from Sarina Litteken.
Capital City jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third set after a kill on a free ball by setter Katie Daehnick. But St. Clair battled back to tie the score at 10 after back-to-back kills by Abby Tharp and Kylee Brandt.
The Lady Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run, then the Lady Cavaliers battled back to tie the score at 14 with a kill by Anderson. However, St. Clair responded with a 5-0 run and led the rest of the set.
The third set is when the errors started piling up, Vogler said.
“We started tallying how many compound errors we made in a row, and there were two runs of six compound errors,” she said. “We mentally thought we had that game.”
The Lady Bulldogs kept the momentum with a 10-5 start to the fourth set, benefiting from six Capital City errors. The Lady Cavaliers battled back with kills by Anderson and Payton Becker and an ace by Danika Brase, tying the set at 12.
The set was back and forth the rest of the way, with Capital City serving for match point at 24-22. However, a kill by Rylea Black and an ace by Tharp tied the score, and an attack error by Capital City’s Aslyn Marshall put St. Clair in front 25-24.
During a timeout, the Lady Cavaliers regrouped and Marshall answered with a block and then a kill, putting Capital City in front 26-25.
“She is one of our biggest key players,” Vogler said of Marshall, who led the Lady Cavaliers with 13 kills. “She had a little bit of a slow start tonight, but she definitely turned it around.”
Litteken finished the match with an ace for Capital City, which has won three straight matches.
Daehnick tallied 35 assists and Addison Jones posted a team-high 22 digs for the Lady Cavaliers.
Black had a team-high 10 kills for St. Clair (2-3), followed by Brandt with nine kills and Emma Thompson with eight.
Capital City (4-2) plays Saturday in the Hickman Tournament. The Lady Cavaliers will face Father Tolton, Battle, Seckman and Boonville in pool play.
“We got third last year and we’re going for first place this year,” Vogler said.
In Thursday’s JV match, St. Clair won 25-19, 24-26, 25-22 to drop Capital City’s record to 3-3.
For the Lady Cavaliers, Kennedie Lutz-Jenkins had eight kills, Kacie Kuebler finished with 22 assists and Brooklyn Kerschner tallied 29 digs.
Capital City won the freshman match 25-13, 27-25 to improve to 4-2.
Lexi Falter had four kills and Reese Denich had seven assists for the Lady Cavaliers.