Centralia thought it had turned a corner with a three-match winning streak.

Centralia vs North Callaway Photo Gallery

It became clear Monday at home that progress is needed after a four-set loss to North Callaway (11-25, 25-11, 23-25, 19-25). The Lady Panthers lost to North Callaway in four after beating the Ladybirds in four sets a week ago at North Callaway but couldn’t win the third set for the crucial 2-1 set lead this time around.

Centralia (3-10) is off to one of its worst starts following three straight seasons of 500 or winning volleyball, including two campaigns of at least 18 wins. The Lady Panthers lost their first nine matches before stringing together three straight victories that began at North Callaway. Head coach Julie Crum said one main aspect has been at the center of the struggles.

“Our biggest killer right now is communication,” Centralia head coach Julie Crum said. “That is our biggest obstacle and barrier to being successful. They’re not talking about what’s happening together, which means they’re not preparing for what’s happening together. It’s keeping us disconnected.”

The Lady Panthers seemed to be scrambling around in the first set so they weren’t able to get going then. Crum said they gained some stability from Ryenn Gordon in the same way she provided stability all year. Gordon led the team with 15 kills, which is around her season average according to Crum, and slapped down several kills in the second set.

“She kills it,” Crum said. “When she connects, it’s usually going straight down and is usually pretty impressive when somebody can play it up.”

Crum said it isn’t just her as Centralia has several “outstanding pieces” returning to the program this season that can make “outstanding plays” such as Madilynn Hunter, who followed Gordon with nine kills. Caris Finlay, who set the school single-match assists record earlier this season, led with 28 assists. Addison Mabrey stood up to the towering North Callaway front row with six blocks. 

However, Crum said not all of that is enough to consistently win matches. Those pieces need to be syncing together well to prevent North Callaway from collecting six service aces in the third set and mounting a 6-0 run at a crucial time in the fourth set.

“Offense is fantastic,” Crum said. “We’re awesome getting the ball to them and putting it on the floor, but if we’re talking about what’s coming at us for defense to get ready for the next play, we just crumble.”

Crum said there are other problems that stick with her like the Lady Panthers averaging four service errors a set when they should really be aiming for two, at most. She said it is even possible for Centralia to have no errors while serving like the district championship match two years ago against Hallsville, and Hunter, Finlay and Lexi England have each done well while serving. 

However, making it so the pieces for this year mesh well needs to take priority. Crum said she thought Centralia was turning a corner during a Sept. 17 home match against Wright City because the Lady Panthers rebounded after dropping the third and fourth sets to take the fifth set. More work will be necessary.

“New day, new problems usually start with communication,” Crum said. “We’re down about 11 girls, and we lost seven seniors, and one was our libero. They’re literally trying to get reacclimated to each other every single time we play.”

Centralia plays at Bowling Green (5-8-1) 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.