Cuba High School’s varsity volleyball team capped a busy week of action with a second place finish in the Oct. 10 Belle Varsity Volleyball Tournament. The Lady Wildcats lost to Sullivan Oct. 5 before defeating Viburnum and Grandview on Sept. 6 and Sept. 8, respectively. Cuba now posts a 17-8 record going into its final two games of the regular season.

  The Lady Wildcats’ junior varsity team won all three of its matches against Sullivan, Viburnum and Grandview and has a stellar 21-4-2 record on the season. Cuba’s 21 wins and counting are the most by its JV team since records were kept starting in 2009. 

Cuba hosted Steelville Oct. 12 for senior night, where Lady Cat seniors Brooke Echols, Mya Garbo, Jaylen Haffer, Allison Heads, Harley Pilkenton and Leah Schmidt were honored along with their families in between the JV and varsity match. Pictures from senior day and details from the match will be featured in next week’s edition.

The Lady Wildcats will host Licking Oct. 15 for its regular season finale and will have a few days to collect themselves before hosting and competing in the Class 3 District 9 Tournament.

Cuba is seeded fifth in Districts and will take on the four-seeded Salem Lady Tigers at 5 p.m. on Oct. 20 at Mike Voigt Gymnasium. The winner will play number one-seeded St. Clair at 5 p.m. two days later.

Despite having a better record than Salem, the Lady Cats are the lower seed because they lost the Sept. 14 matchup three sets to two against the Lady Tigers.

Three-seeded Owensville will play six-seeded St. James in the first round following Cuba versus Salem and the winner will play two-seeded Sullivan in the next round. 

Oct. 5 vs. Sullivan

The Lady Wildcats traveled to Sullivan to take on its Class 3 District 9 foe, the Sullivan Lady Eagles. Last year, Sullivan ended Cuba’s season by knocking the Lady Wildcats out of the Class 3 District 9 Tournament semifinals. Sullivan went on to win the district title and appears to be a tall task to overcome again this season.

The Lady Eagles controlled this year’s matchup throughout the contest and won in straight sets, 25-15, 25-12 and 25-14 to send the Lady Cats home with a whimper.

Jaylen Haffer produced a strong all-around stat line of 10 kills, eight receptions, six blocks and six digs. Justice Evrard had eight receptions, seven blocks, six digs and four kills. Jerzey Bright tallied 14 receptions and six digs.

Mya Garbo added nine digs and six receptions. Brooke Echols had nine assists and six digs. Brooklyn Tate collected seven receptions, three blocks and three kills. Harley Pilkenton registered six digs, three blocks, three kills and had the only service ace of the evening for the Lady Cats. Allison Heads had six assists and five digs and Leah Schmidt chipped in 10 receptions, two digs and two kills.

Cuba’s junior varsity team was able to get the better of Sullivan’s JV in the first contest of the evening, winning two out of three sets to earn the match victory. Cuba won the first set 25-21, lost the second set 25-23 before dominating the third set 15-6 to earn the win. The Lady Wildcats’ junior varsity moved to 19-4-2 with the victory and Sullivan’s JV dropped to 6-12 with the loss. 

Cuba sophomore Addison McGinnis would most likely be playing at the varsity level for many other schools, but is behind Cuba’s senior front line players on the depth chart. Making the best of her playing time on JV, she posted team-highs of 17 digs, 14 receptions, seven kills and four blocks.

Makayla Wells tallied 11 digs and 11 receptions and a team-high three service aces. Kam Peters had 12 digs, nine receptions and four kills. Claire Echols recorded eight assists and seven digs and Payton Rhoades added eight digs and six receptions. 

Oct. 6 vs. Viburnum

Cuba hopped on the bus for the second straight evening and made the journey to Viburnum to take on the Lady Blue Jays in a Gasconade Valley Conference (GVC) contest.

The Lady Wildcats junior varsity took the court first and continued its outstanding play, winning 25-12 and 25-14 to earn its 20th victory of the season in straight sets. Rhoades recorded 13 digs and three kills. Wells tallied 13 digs and three service aces. Haylee Echols had 11 digs and four kills. Peters added seven receptions and six digs and Claire Echols had a team-high six assists and chipped in five digs.

Cuba’s varsity team then took the court and bounced back from being swept the day before. Sans Haffer, the Lady Wildcats won 25-14 and 25-16 to take an early 2-0 advantage. The Lady Blue Jays didn’t lay down in the third set, toppling Cuba 25-21 to prolong the match.

Cuba bounced back in the fourth set, playing its best ball of the evening to win 25-11 and earn the match victory. The Lady Wildcats improved to 15-7-1 with the win and Viburnum dropped to 3-17-1 with the loss.

Evrard and Pilkenton each had monstrous all-around games to lead the Lady Cats.

Evrard totalled 18 receptions, 17 digs, 13 blocks, 13 kills and five service aces. Pilkenton recorded 15 kills, 14 digs, 10 blocks and 10 receptions.

Bright and Garbo also played strong games for Cuba. Bright tallied 20 digs, 12 receptions and seven digs. Garbo had 15 digs, eight kills and seven receptions.

Heads recorded a season-high 22 assists and chipped in 12 digs. Brooke Echols added 13 assists and seven digs and Brooklyn Tate had five kills, five blocks and four digs.

Oct. 8 vs. Grandview

Cuba hosted the Grandview Lady Eagles for Pink Out Night and Youth Appreciation night. A silent auction and a bake sale fundraiser was held to help support a local community member’s battle with cancer and Cuba’s youth teams were recognized at center court. 

The celebrations continued on the court as both of Cuba’s teams took care of business in short order, earning match victories in straight sets.

Cuba’s junior varsity team won 25-13 and 25-15 in the first matchup of the evening between the Lady Cats and Lady Eagles.

McGinnis had 12 digs, eight kills, five receptions and two service ace s. Haylee Echols tallied 12 digs, four kills, four assists and three service aces. Peters recorded 10 digs and four receptions.

The Lady Cats’ varsity team dominated, winning by a 75-28 score over the three sets. Cuba won 25-15, 25-7 and 25-6 to earn the sweep without any worry.

During the match, Evrard achieved 500 career digs and 100 career service aces. She finished with five digs, four kills and two service aces.

Pilkenton and Haffer were dominant on the front line. Pilkenton recorded 11 digs, 10 receptions, seven kills and five blocks. Haffer tallied a game-high 15 kills and six blocks. Bright registered seven receptions, five kills and five digs. 

Oct. 10 Belle Varsity Volleyball Tournament

Cuba played Steelville first, falling in the first set 25-21 before winning 25-17 in the second set. The Lady Cats then swept Dixon 25-7 and 25-20 and advanced to the Tournament Championship against North Callaway.

Cuba dropped a close first set 25-23 before falling 25-13 in the following set to finish in second place in the Tournament.