PITTSBURG — Facing the No. 23 Kansas City Kansas Blue Devils, the Labette Cardinals fell in straight sets, 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-18) on Wednesday in a home KJCCC game hosted at Pittsburg State. The loss was the fifth in a row for the Cardinals.
“The theme of our season is starting really hot, really good, really well,” Labette head coach Haley Cook said. “Then we like to tank and make it a game. Then we don’t like to battle back out of the hole. That’s on us for not figuring out what we need to do to be more consistent.”
Labette came out of the gate a few hands ahead of Kansas City, taking a 12-7 lead in the first set.
“We were running a system,” Cook said. “We were passing well. Our setters were putting balls in windows and our hitters were taking the opportunity to go and put the ball away. We just went away from that. We weren’t passing where we needed to. Setters started putting the ball higher instead of in windows. Our hitters weren’t taking the line and taking advantage of open spots.”
As the match progressed, the Blue Devils kept the Cardinals’ defense on its back feet. Labette struggled to mount offense and get clean passes to its setters.
“They saw that we weren’t picking up their right side’s hard-hit balls,” Cook said. “They saw we weren’t ready to run, so they started tipping balls on us. We couldn’t get balls fully down on our side.”
Serafina Auberry led Labette with seven kills. Madyson Goossen added four while Lizzie Hoisington and Diana Stetsko chipped in three apiece.
Jill Holwick had 10 assists while Dayanara Castillo had 20 digs.
For Kansas City Kansas, Mercedez Brown led the Blue Devils with nine kills. Briazia had 20 assists while Alejandra Aponte had 11 digs.
Labette, which switched to a rotational defense to speed up its pace of play this offseason, has shown sparks of an improved squad. But a rugged early season schedule hasn’t done any favors to perception.
“We’re going to stay the course,” Cook said. “It’s on us for not doing the little things. We’re falling away from what we’ve been taught and they’re doing what they want to do rather than what we’re supposed to do. We’re not staying up when we get up. We trail back. But we’re staying the course. It’ll work or it won’t.”
Up next
Labette resumes KJCCC play on Wednesday with a road trip.
“They’re scrappy and you can’t underestimate them,” Cook said. “Their record is better than ours. So it’s anybody’s ballgame.”
Cook said the first day Labette’s gymnasium may be ready for play will be Sept. 25, when the Cardinals are scheduled to host Independence.
