Cuba High School’s volleyball team concluded a busy week at Mike Voigt gymnasium after hosting Viburnum Aug. 31, New Haven Sept. 1 and St. Clair on Sept. 3.

The Lady Wildcats were one set away from having a perfect week after defeating Viburnum and Salem, but fell in the fifth and final set to St. Clair, finishing the week with two out of three wins, extending its record to 4-2 on the season. Even in the loss to the St. Clair Lady Bulldogs, it was a monumental match for Cuba, who according to MSHAA, won its first sets over St. Clair since 2013.

Cuba then had four days off before taking the short drive down Route 66 to play a road match Sept. 8 against Bourbon, which will be detailed in next week’s edition. The Lady Cats will play in Belle Sept. 10 before returning home Sept. 14 to host Salem. 

Aug. 31 vs Viburnum

The Lady Wildcats took on Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) foe, Viburnum in its home opener on the last day of August. Cuba asserted its dominance from the start winning 25-9 to set the tone for a sweep in straight sets. The Lady Cats won the second set 25-11 and the third set 25-16 to earn its third victory of the season. Viburnum fell to 0-2 on the year with the loss.

Cuba received significant contributions from numerous players and were led by dominant performances from senior standouts Harley Pilkenton and Jaylen Haffer.

Pilkenton tallied 11 serves returned, 10 kills, five digs and two aces and Haffer added seven kills, five digs, three blocks and three aces.

Brooke Echols recorded 11 assists and six aces, Allison Heads totaled 12 assists and three digs, Mya Garbo chipped in eight digs, seven serves received and three aces, Brooklyn Tate had four kills and five blocks and Justice Evrard added four blocks, three kills, three digs and three serves returned. 

Cuba’s junior varsity team made quick work of Viburnum’s JV in the first match up of the evening, winning 25-10 and 25-3 to earn the victory in the best-of-five series.

Sept. 1 vs. New Haven

Cuba returned to the friendly confines of Mike Voigt gymnasium the following afternoon to host the New Haven Lady Shamrocks. While the matches were more competitive than they were versus Viburnum, the results were the same. The Lady Cats’ varsity squad won 25-20, 25-22 and 25-21 to earn its fourth win of the season in straight sets. Cuba’s junior varsity squad also took care of business, winning 25-13 and 25-23 in the first match up of the evening between the Lady Wildcats and the Lady Shamrocks.

Haffer continued to stuff the stat sheet and was a ball magnet for New Haven’s servers. She recorded a whopping 24 serves received and added eight kills, six digs and five blocks in a do-it-all performance.

Evrard was also seemingly everywhere, tallying 10 serves received, nine digs, eight blocks and six kills.

Garbo added nine digs, three kills and one ace, Pilkenton had seven digs, five kills and one block, Heads chipped in 10 assists and six digs and Echols had nine assists, four digs and a team-high three aces.

Sept. 3 vs. St. Clair

Cuba remained at home, hosting the St. Clair Lady Bulldogs for its third home match of the week. St. Clair looked to be in control of the match, winning the first set 25-11 and the second set 25-12.

However, the Lady Wildcats didn’t lay down, battling back to win the third set 25-23 and the fourth set 25-21 to extend the match to a fifth and final tie-breaking set.

The fifth set was a back-and-forth battle, but St. Clair emerged victorious with a 15-11 advantage to win the match.

Long volleys and points created many opportunities for digs for the Lady Cats, who compiled 98 digs as a team throughout the match.

Garbo accounted for a team-high 25 digs and also received 25 serves in a busy evening of action.

Haffer and Evrard continued to be extremely active and productive, having their fingerprints all over the stat sheet.  Haffer tallied 32 serves received, 15 kills, 15 blocks, eight digs and three aces and Evrard registered 13 digs, 11 blocks, 10 serves received and six kills.

Pilkenton had team-high four aces and recorded 15 digs and 15 serves received, Heads totaled 13 assists and 10 digs, Echols added 11 digs and eight assists and Leah Schmidt and Tate each chipped in seven digs.

Cuba’s junior varsity team won 25-22 in the first set, lost 25-12 in the second set before emerging with a 15-11 victory in the third set to win the match. According to MSHAA, it was the Lady Cats’ first junior varsity victory over St. Clair since at least 2016, when the stats were recorded on the website.