When the North Callaway volleyball seniors were freshmen, the program still didn’t have a winning season.

They finished 12-15-1 that season, which was a program best 43 winning percentage at that point, before improving its winning percentage every year to achieve the program’s second winning season and first 20-win season. The Ladybirds sat at 21-7-2 after a four-set loss to Wright City (17-8) on Oct. 14 where the Eastern Missouri Conference championship was on the line.

North Callaway made sure to recognize its eight seniors — Peyton Boulware, Alex Craighead, Lauren Pezold, Lydia Smithee, Kayden Sorell, Rachelle Atterberry, Iceonna Tomlinson and Addy Vermette — that night. Head coach Andrew Klein said the night’s electric atmosphere doesn’t happen without the efforts of those girls.

North Callaway Senior Night Photo Gallery

“Those eight seniors have done a phenomenal job getting buy-in from younger girls and community members and their families,” Klein said. “That’s when you end up with a crowd that looked like a basketball crowd. Five years ago, you couldn’t say that about North Callaway volleyball. It’s the standard now. They built it. It wasn’t me.”

The seniors led the way against Wright City as Craighead led North Callaway with 14 kills, Pezold led with 22 assists and Boulware led with nine digs. The Ladybirds gave the Wildcats a more competitive match after being swept by Wright City, who is two years removed from a three-win season, in September. North Callaway took the second set 25-17 to tie the match and tied the third set at 24 despite trailing 24-16. 

Just like the Ladybirds were better in this rematch, they have made a habit of setting the bar higher over the last few years. Craighead set the school single-match kill record at 20 in a five-set win over Centralia. She said she “had my eye on it for a long time” because she was confident she could get that record, and confidence isn’t in short supply for North Callaway.

“We lift each other up,” Craighead said. “If someone’s down on the court, we help them find confidence again. We try not to get mad at each other because we are a family.”

Boulware said all of the team’s accomplishments were only possible because the Ladybirds were playing together. She doesn’t just mean playing seamlessly on the court as that doesn’t happen until the girls are cohesive in another way. 

“There’s a saying that girls, when they play sports, need to bond before they battle and guys need to play before they bond,” Boulware said. “That is definitely an accurate statement of us. We really made it our priority to be together. A mistake isn’t one person’s mistake. We play together. There’s always going to be mistakes, wins and losses, but we do it together and never alone.”

Boulware is a key cog in the back row as the libero and tries to keep North Callaway’s defense in order. She lays out for the good of the team, but Boulware did earn personal recognition by passing 1,000 career digs, which she first did in a home sweep of Brookfield in early October. 

“I remember there was a class period where Coach (Kevin) O’Neal was subbing and he made us right on a paper a goal that we have in life, sports, school or anything,” Boulware said. “I remember putting down that I wanted to achieve 1,000 digs. When you put your mind to it, things can really happen.”

Craighead said the girls are proud after they have “come a long way,” and she believes that is true for her. She put her mind to being a better volleyball player.

“I spent a lot of time in the offseason, either my parents brought me to the school or one of my cousins who coaches college spent a lot of time with me and helped me out,” Craighead said. “It’s a very mental game, so I had to grow in that aspect. It’s a lot of offseason time.”

Klein said he has high expectations for the girls, and they have high expectations for themselves. This is all reflected during the offseason in the weight room and clinics with college coaches. He said if the seniors are dedicated to doing these things, then the other girls follow like “a big sister.”

“If you want to play and earn playing time now, you have to push to be the best version of yourself,” Klein said. “That’s all we want out of these kids and all of our athletes at North Callaway. These seniors have done a good job at grasping that and accepting that’s how it’s going to be. That just trickles down.”

No. 4 seed North Callaway starts the Class 2 District 6 tournament in Hermann against No. 5 seed Montgomery County (11-16-3) at 4:30 p.m. tonight.