A new season began for Mexico volleyball on Monday night.

Mexico vs Fulton Photo Gallery

Like previous years, the Lady Bulldogs went into the season with optimism, but unlike previous years, they won their first match against a signature opponent Fulton. Mexico defeated its North Central Missouri Conference rival and district foe — that won the district title a year ago — in four sets 25-18, 25-13, 20-25 and 25-7 to snap a seven-match losing streak against the Lady Hornets.

Head coach Kathryn French led Mexico to victory in her first career game to follow a night where the junior varsity B squad won 25-22 and 25-21 and the junior varsity A squad won 19-25, 25-23 and 25-19. For the past three seasons, Mexico has opened the season against Fulton only to lose so French said the girls were excited for this day.

“The girls have worked really hard these past couple weeks, getting ready for this game,” French said. “The biggest thing is positive mentality. We focused a lot on being ready, being here, letting the mistakes hold for a second and then letting them go — focusing on the next ball and focusing on the next play.”

French said she is aware that she was inheriting a team that finished with four wins last season, but many of those girls were returning with an additional year of experience. She said they were determined to make this season different starting with the rivalry matchup.

Senior Emily Moppin said Mexico hasn’t beaten Fulton that often in her career. She feels good along with the rest of the girls about what this means for the season ahead.

“It gets me really excited for the season,” Moppin said. “It is especially good because they are in our conference — that’s already a conference win — but they are also in our district so it seeds us higher already.”

Moppin finished with four kills and 15 digs and was just one of several key contributors. According to unofficial stats after the match, Jaclynn Cline led with nine kills and also had 15 digs, Claire Isgrig finished with a team-high 67 assists and Skyler Arnold led the team with 36 digs.

Mexico eventually built a 17-11 lead in the first set to force a Fulton timeout. The Lady Bulldogs didn’t let many balls drop as several girls kept volleys alive even with their backs to the net. That trend continued in the second set, including some solid back row play from the outside hitter Moppin.

“At the very beginning of the game, I asked the girls, ‘What are some goals you have for night?” French said. “The number one goal that they told me was to communicate on everything, then they had track every ball, then get a hand on every ball and they did all three of those things. Throughout the whole preseason these past couple weeks, today it had finally come together.”

“Our chemistry this year is a lot better,” Moppin said. “Last year, we lost a lot but we went through those losses together. This year, we’re able to put it all together, come together and win.”

The Lady Bulldogs were smooth in motion while Fulton struggled to chain together hits. The setter Isgrig was heavily involved and demonstrated her ability to set up teammates even while on the move, setting the ball behind her sometimes.

“She has great floor sense,” French said. “She does an amazing job of being ready and being on her toes to keep the ball in play. As the setter, she has to set up everybody else for their success, and she does a great job of setting the team up for success with her energy.”

Mexico’s play only seemed rough during the third set when the Lady Bulldogs allowed various points to drop in the middle. They stayed about four points behind during the whole set but bounced back in a big way, jumping ahead 14-3 in the fourth set.

“Fulton’s middle during that game had a great and quick attack,” French said. “We had to figure out what was the best way for us to come in and cover that area without leaving ourselves vulnerable in other areas.”

French said Mexico communicated well to adjust to that down stretch and was glad to see her team fire back strongly in the fourth set. The Lady Bulldogs had kills coming from seemingly everybody in that final set, including Moppin, Addison Paden, Sherlyn Mena-Lopez and Nevaeh Long. As usual, Cline slapped down some bombs to prove why she is a reigning all-conference hitter like Moppin.

“She has really good hustle and a lot of heart,” French said. “She had some phenomenal contacts tonight on the right side as well as the outside when she got the chance to attack from there.”

Mexico hosts another conference foe Kirksville (2-1) at around 6:30 p.m. Thursday.