Platte County must quickly regroup for districts, chase for another playoff berth

The desired momentum appeared in place right up until the regular season finale.

Grain Valley traveled Thursday to Pirate Fieldhouse and came away with a 26-24, 17-25, 25-22, 25-15 victory in a Suburban Conference White Division matchup. Platte County’s four-match winning streak came to an end, and the Pirates now must use the remaining practice days ahead of the Class 4 District 8 first round matchups to ready for another potential postseason run.

Platte County (18-11-1) needs to advance to the championship to maintain a streak of 20-win seasons and earn the opportunity to play for a fourth playoff berth in five seasons.

“It’s a long season,” Platte County coach Katlyn Donovan said. “We start in May. We go until — we’ve had a lot of success these last few seasons — hopefully November, but yeah, you can tell they’re getting tired. It’s that time of year. What we need to focus on is keeping them engaged and our long-term goals.”

Platte County finished 9-5 in White Division play and missed out on a sixth straight conference title. However, the Pirates don’t have to let a disappointing league finish define a season that started with replacing eight seniors from last year’s Class 4 quarterfinalist.

Showing flashes of potential with a mostly inexperienced roster, Platte County ended up splitting two matchups this season with Grain Valley, which led just 15-14 coming out of a timeout in what ended up the decisive fourth set. The Eagles then closed on a 10-1 run to earn the victory.

Grain Valley recorded 12 aces and used strong service to pull away late and avoid any potential dramatics.

“No matter what the sitatuion is, we’ve got to continue to battle,” Donovan said. “If we’re going to lose, let’s go down swinging. Let’s lose being aggressive and playing Platte County volleyball.”

Platte County wanted to force a fifth set for a fourth time this season but couldn’t sustain the momentum after winning the second set. The Pirates’ were strong in attack at times with two-time all-state senior Karlee Riggs recording 15 kills, while freshman Miah Omoike added 11 and junior middle hitter Malin Cole seven.

Omoike added three of Platte County’s three service aces but lack of consistency again plagued the Pirates after dropping the opening set.

Platte County junior Gia Derose finished with 29 digs but struggled on serve receive late, while the Pirates were again utilizing the two-setter rotation of senior Sailor Bane (21 assists, 10 digs) and junior Carissa Bacon (17 assists, 12 digs). All three have been key parts of a retooled rotation building around Riggs, Cole and junior middle blocker Emma Macaluso, who started the second half of last season.

Outside of those three key players, Platte County continues to mesh together pieces that also include versatile senior Ava Moffitt (five kills, team-high 11 service points and eight digs).

“It’s not the volleyball side of it that we’re seeing; it’s the mentality side of it,” Donovan said. “Us coaches can see the frustration on their faces, and it’s something we have to fix moving forward because we’re going to be in tough situations.”

Riggs developed into a full-rotation player this season and finished with 10 digs and six service points in Platte County’s regular season finale. She continues to play the focal point of an offense trying to go to the Class 4 playoffs again. The Pirates advanced to the Class 4 state semifinals in 2020 and 2022 and finished last season one win short of another state trophy.

Platte County placed third in each of the previous two trips to state and still believes a similar run could be in play. The Pirates own the No. 2 seed in this week’s Class 4 District 8 but with a recent sweep of top-seeded Kearney (19-10-1) plus straight set victories over Pembroke Hill and St. Pius X and a tournament tie with third-seeded Smithville.

If Platte County can reel off three wins and go back to the playoffs, St. Michael the Archangel or Belton have the best chance to advance out of District 7. Those teams combined to go 3-0 against Platte County.

In the first of two meetings this season, Platte County and Belton went to five sets, and St. Michael needed four to win the lone meeting. Belton swept Platte County on the way to the White Division conference title while St. Michael also eliminated Platte County from the Class 4 playoffs last year.

“We’ve had the tools; we’ve had the games that we want to see, and we’ve just got to capitalize on it,” Donovan said. “We know that they can make a big postseason run, and I’m excited for it.”

Platte County opens the tournament Thursday against seventh-seeded Van Horn (10-15-3) with the semifinals scheduled for Saturday after at Kearney, which also hosts the championship match Monday night.

Platte County 3, Fort Osage 1

The Pirates also lost the first set in Tuesday’s White Division matchup in Independence before storming back for a 20-25, 25-11, 25-13, 25-12 victory behind the offensive trio of Riggs (16 kills), Moffitt and Omoike (13 kills apiece). Moffitt finished in double figures for the second time this season and set a new career-high and also posted a team-high six service aces.

Bane finished with 17 service points and 28 assists for Platte County, which used defense to redirect the trajectory of the match.

Derose finished with 28 digs, while Riggs added 23. Moffitt also finished in double-figures (18) in the best all-around match of a career that featured limited varsity time as a sophomore and junior. Cole (seven kills) and Macaluso (six kills) were also strong in the middle despite just three total blocks for the Pirates.

Platte County’s fourth straight win marked the best run since a 5-0 start to the season. Those two stretches account for half of the Pirates’ win total to this point.