After a dominant win in its season opener against Laquey, Steelville High School’s volleyball team dropped a pair of home matches to Dixon and Potosi on Sept. 4 and Sept. 9 to fall to 1-2 on the season. The Lady Cardinals lost both matches in straight sets.

Steelville’s schedule ramped up the following week with a stretch of three matches and a tournament in six days. The Lady Cardinals hosted Plato Sept. 14, played in Viburnum Sept. 15 and will host St. James Sept. 16. Steelville will travel down Highway 19 to compete on Sept. 19 in the Cuba Varsity Tournament. The Red and White will play their first match of the tournament at 8 a.m. versus Viburnum. All of the Lady Cardinals’ matches will be detailed in next week’s edition.

The Lady Cards will then host Kingston Sept. 22, play in Bourbon Sept. 24 and their junior varsity team will participate in Cuba’s junior varsity tournament Sept. 26.

Sept. 4 vs. Dixon

The Lady Cardinals hosted the Dixon Lady Bulldogs in a Friday evening matchup that delayed each team’s Labor Day Weekend celebration. After an easy victory in their first match of the year against Laquey, Steelville came back to earth against Dixon.

While each set was competitive, the Lady Bulldogs won three straight sets 25-22, 25-18 and 25-21, to hand the Lady Cardinals its first loss of the season. Dixon earned its first victory after dropping its first five matches of the season.

Steelville’s senior-laden lineup stuffed the stat sheet despite the loss. Jazmyn Hurd received 16 serves, had 12 digs and two aces. Emeri Perkins received 10 serves, made nine digs and had six kills. Gracie Mae Boone received 13 serves and had eight digs. Kylee Livesay had 17 assists, five digs and one ace. Sylvia Davis added six kills, five digs and two serves received and junior Kaylin Gillam chipped in seven serves received, six kills and three aces.

The Lady Cardinals junior varsity team controlled both sets in the first matchup of the evening between Steelville and Dixon, winning 25-11 and 25-11 to earn a match victory in straight sets.

Sept. 9 vs. Potosi

Steelville welcomed the undefeated Potosi Lady Trojans to town on Wednesday evening. Each team’s junior varsity teams competed first and Potosi reigned supreme with 25-22 and 25-11 victories to earn a match victory.

Steelville’s varsity team didn’t have much better results. The Lady Trojans controlled the first set with a 25-8 victory. The Lady Cardinals showed resilience in the second set and led late in the frame. However, Potosi went on a run and stole the second set, 25-22 to seize control of the match. The loss in the second set seemed to take the wind out of Steelville’s sails, and the Lady Trojans cruised to a 25-9 victory in the final set to make their bus ride home on Route 8 enjoyable with a victory.

Hurd was a ball magnet for Potosi’s servers, receiving a game-high 27 serves while adding eight digs, three kills and one ace to her productive stat line. Perkins received 11 serves, had seven digs, two kills and one ace. Livesay added eight assists, five digs and two kills. Gillam had a team-high four kills and added four digs. Alex Helms recorded the Lady Cards’ only blocks and had two swats. Claire Settles chipped in four assists and four digs. Potosi senior Eden Robart was dominant on the front line, tallying a game-high 16 kills to lead the Lady Trojans.