The Centralia Lady Panthers went past their limit on Tuesday at home.
In their first first-set match of the season, the Lady Panthers lost to Eastern Missouri Conference foe Wright City (19-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 8-15) for their first loss to Wright City (6-1) since 2020. Centralia (0-10-2) was led by Ryenn Gordon with 23 kills, Maylee Rosenfelder with nine kills, Georgia Gooding had six kills, and the team had a season-high seven blocks.
Head coach Julie Crum said Centralia has had a hard time "fighting to push" with the younger team this season. Gordon, Gooding and libero Elizabeth Romine are the seniors, and there are several sophomores with the varsity squad.
"They really pushed but then they hit their wall," Crum said. "It's just a matter of getting their heads right for 100 percent of the plays. We'll do good one set and then we back off, like tonight. They stopped talking, and we stop talking, they stop pushing and it all just falls apart."
Crum said Centralia was "locked in" as it held off Wright City in the second and fourth sets. The trailing team made a comeback in every set, leading to a tough loss for Centralia in the third set.
Crum said it was encouraging to see the sophomore Rosenfelder have her best game of the season. She and Gooding accounted for much of Centralia's points in its winning second set before Gordon's attack got going in the third set, with her seven kills. Gooding has "a perfect personality and is super coachable," according to Crum, and is "such an important asset" despite not seeing much playing time last year.
"She always pushes for the next play to be better," Crum said. "They all do like my setters (junior Liv Hartley and sophomore Karsyn Barnes), and I've got all these underclassmen but they're all pushing to improve and work hard for their team. They just hit their wall."
Read a feature story about Ryenn Gordon's recent 1,000 kill accomplishment in the September 23, 2026, edition of the Mexico Ledger.
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