Suddenly winners in four of the past five, Platte County must prepare for an increased level of difficulty in the final week of the regular season and the start of the postseason. The Pirates swept road matches at Raytown on Monday and Kearney on Wednesday.
Platte County hosts Suburban Conference White Division meetings with Grain Valley and Fort Osage in a triangular Monday and then Belton on Wednesday. The Pirates went an even 1-1-1 in the first matches against those teams this season.
The tie came against Belton in tournament play.
Platte County (12-7-1) owns the No. 5 seed in a difficult Class 5 District 8 field regardless of results and opens against Oak Park (15-6-1) in the first round a week from Tuesday. Oak Park won the first meeting between the teams in straight sets back in Oak Park’s Chopping Block Invitational.
In continuing the theme of rematches, Platte County completed season sweeps of both Raytown and Kearney.
Platte County senior recorded 12 kills Monday in a 25-16, 25-13, 25-15 sweep of Raytown, while junior Preston Cavan added five of the Pirates’ 11 service aces and finished with a team-high 10 digs in another dominant performance for the first-year program.
Cavan and junior Joshua Echeverry (six kills, two aces, eight digs) brought the most experience to Platte County’s roster, but the season continued to produce milestone achievements along with development of a promising roster that also includes a setter duo of senior Alex Stinson and freshman Cooper Miles, who finished with eight assists apiece against Raytown. Bertram and junior Jokubas Lebedevas (five kills) have become the biggest complementary attackers up front next to Echeverry in the Pirates’ attack.
Platte County improved to 3-1 in a limited conference schedule, having lost to Grain Valley but beaten Fort Osage ahead of those rematches.
In the second nonconference matchup with Kearney, Platte County came away with a 25-18, 25-20, 25-20 sweep. Echeverry (11 kills), Bertram (nine kills) and Lebedevas and junior Drake White (four kills each) led the attack. Miles, Cavan and Bertram all recorded two service aces apiece.
Platte County’s defense stood out in creating long rallies. Cavan (21 digs) and Echeverry (12 digs) led the way to help the Pirates put up a second straight win, but they have yet to record more than three victories in a row at any point this season.
