North Callaway didn’t take the momentum last time against Centralia.

North Callaway at Centralia Photo Gallery

The Ladybirds lost a week prior to Centralia at home in four sets despite splitting the first two sets. In Monday’s rematch in Centralia, North Callaway defeated the Lady Panthers (25-11, 11-25, 25-23, 25-19) and won a back-and-forth third set thanks to six service aces.

Head coach Andrew Klein said Monday’s match was “eerily similar” to how the first meeting began and the third set was once again the deciding factor. Because the Ladybirds (6-7-2) were able to take a 2-1 set lead, he said the momentum swung heavily their way.

“That third set is so pivotal,” head coach Andrew Klein said. “The last time we played them, they were able to get that and beat us pretty good in that third set. We finished with a huge kill from Alex Craighead, and credit to our back row for getting a good reception on that serve. Lakyn Hartley set her up and it was a perfect ball and Alex finished it.”

Craighead’s set-winning kill was one of five kills for the sophomore, who Klein said helped give North Callaway confidence in the fourth set after she had been working on her confidence. Rylee Horstman, Avis Endres and Bailey Hill each had five kills as well.

Serving was an instrumental part of the third set to give North Callaway the advantage it needed, Klein said. Jaden Smithee recorded three of her four service aces in the set as Centralia (3-10) had difficulty receiving her fast and sinking serve.

“I’m really proud of her controlling her serves and putting them in a hard spot,” Klein said. “When Jaden gets going, she probably has the toughest serve on the team. We’re trying to minimize the errors because, when you serve like that, errors are bound to happen too. She does a terrific job when she gets the adrenaline pumping and she is in the zone. I try not to say anything to her and have her trust herself to get those over.”

From that point, the North Callaway gained a slight advantage in the fourth set due to the versatility of its attack. The aforementioned four girls gave Centralia too much to worry about. During a pivotal 6-0 Ladybird run, three different girls recorded a kill and Natalie Shryock had two during that stretch to be involved in the effort.

“For the four girls to have those five kills is super important to us being versatile and hard to predict on the other side,” Klein said. “I’m really proud of our setters for setting them, and our hitters for finishing that out.”

Smithee and Hartley are setters for North Callaway. While they can be usually found near the net to assist attackers, Klein said Hartley emerged in crucial moments while in the back row.

“Typically, we don’t want her to get a lot of back-row balls,” Klein said. “She had eight digs tonight, and a few of them were really big-time in close situations.”

Klein said wrapping up Centralia in the fourth set was important since the Ladybirds didn’t want to give their opponent hope on the Lady Panthers’ home court. How girls are feeling during the course of a match is important, he said, as is how they are feeling between matches.

The Ladybirds felt like they missed out on playing for a championship on Saturday at the Calvary Lutheran Tournament in Jefferson City but were only able to tie Calvary Lutheran. North Callaway earned third place after winning in two sets against Bunceton and Otterville, and Klein liked how that tournament result didn’t affect the girls negatively against Centralia.

“We didn’t get an opportunity to play for a championship, which is frustrating for some of the girls, especially our seniors,” Klein said. “Coming out here, we could have been flat and been upset about Saturday still, but that just shows how mature we are and are getting.”

North Callaway hosts Russellville (6-5) at 6 p.m. Sept. 30, looking to redeem a four-set loss earlier this season.