Andrew Klein had mixed emotions after his North Callaway volleyball team lost in three games to the Montgomery County Wildcats in a Class 2, District 6 quarterfinal match on Thursday at Montgomery County High School.

The North Callaway coach was upset that his team was eliminated in the postseason. But he was happy that he won a bet he made with Kevin O’Neal – the school’s football coach – on who will get the most wins this fall.

With the 25-27, 18-25, 8-25 loss to Montgomery County, the Ladybirds finished 12-17-1, tripling their win total from last year and setting a school record for most victories in a season.

“I told them we had a heck of a season,” Klein said.

Montgomery County, the No. 3 seed in the six-team district tournament, improved to 11-13-1 and advanced to the district semifinals against Tolton Catholic at 7 p.m. Monday. The Wildcats also defeated North Callaway for the third time this season.
Montgomery County also ended the high school volleyball careers of seniors Ellie Pezold and Alana Todd. Pezold played with the Ladybirds all four years.

“I’m really going to miss the team,” Pezold said. “I think they’ll be good for the next few years. They have a lot of sophomores and a few juniors. They have a freshman on varsity, too. I think they’ll be really good next year. Hopefully, I’ll come watch them.”

Pezold helped North Callaway get off to a blazing start against Montgomery County. The Ladybirds stormed to a 6-0 lead over the five-time Eastern Missouri Conference champions in the first game. Pezold served five of those points.

“That was really exciting,” Pezold said. “We never have been able to play that well with Montgomery. That was cool. I didn’t think they were expecting it.”

North Callaway was one point away from winning the first game as it was leading 24-22. But the Wildcats came back with a 5-1 run to win the opening game.

“We knew coming in here that with us being the lower seed that we thought everybody was against us,” Klein said. “Nobody expected us to be able to hang with Montgomery. They’re such a well-coached and talented group of girls, and they beat us twice already this year. We knew that it’s hard to beat a team three times. The ball just fell our way there in the first set.”

In the second game, the Wildcats took a 10-3 lead en route to the victory. North Callaway led 2-1 in the third game before Montgomery County came back with an 8-0 run to take a 9-2 lead and never looked back.

“After playing two very close sets, that third set kind of got away from us,” Klein said. “But I’m proud of my girls. They left it on the floor and that’s all I can ask.”

Sophomore Natalie Shryock finished with five kills, sophomore Jaden Smithee had nine assists, sophomore Bailey Hill had four blocks and junior Rylie Blevins had 14 digs to lead the Ladybirds, who were seeded sixth.

North Callaway, which started its program in 2014, hit the double-digit mark in victories for the first time. The Ladybirds also snapped a 36-match losing streak in EMO play with a three-game win over Wright City on Sept. 27.

Klein said he had high hopes for his team when the season began in late August.

“Last year, we had a very young group that started three freshmen, two seniors and a junior,” said Klein, who took over the program in 2021. “They’re just getting older and more mature and playing volleyball. I can’t wait until next year because I know they’re going to be playing more volleyball. Honestly, that’s what helped us. We played more volleyball during the off-season by playing this summer. I appreciated my girls for taking it seriously and wanting to do those things.”