Elgin, Ridgedale matchup in key early season NWCC volleyball match Thursday

MORRAL — Thursday night was a good sign for the Comets.

If Elgin is going to win a Northwest Central Conference volleyball championship for the first time since 2018, it has got to handle its business. And in its first league match of the season, that business was handled well.

The Comets made quick work of Ridgedale, winning on the road 25-13, 25-19, 25-17.

"There was a lot of emotion in this game," Elgin coach Alyssa Booth said of the cross-county rivalry match. "The girls are really excited, and they know what they came here to do. I’m just very proud of them."

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How did the Comets do it?

Fast starts helped Elgin's cause. Ridgedale led early in the first set, but Elgin turned a 6-4 deficit into an 8-6 advantage and never looked back, forging leads of 12-7, 16-8, 20-9 and 23-12. It was more of the same in the next two sets, only with the Comets leading from the first serve.

"Especially in volleyball, it’s hard to battle back. Momentum is hard to get back once you lose it," Ridgedale coach Tyler Clark said.

In the second set, Elgin led 6-1, 9-3 and 13-4. The Rockets tried to rally, cutting it to 15-10, but Elgin answered with a five-point run of its own and the separation proved too much down the stretch. In the third set, the Comets again took leads of 4-0, 9-4 and 13-8. However, the Rockets stole that momentum to go on an 8-0 run and take a 16-13 lead.

The Comets didn't fluster and answered with a 12-1 run to close it out.

"Ridgedale did a great job in Set 3 there of getting on a run. I think our girls have really grown," Booth said of their final run. "Honestly, that was the most amazing feeling. I’d rather see that than kills every day."

What's it mean for each team?

The NWCC, unlike the other Marion-area conferences, does not play home-and-homes or double round robins to determine its champion. Instead, everyone plays one another once. That means there's a much smaller margin for error, and it puts a premium on those NWCC matches.

Both Elgin and Ridgedale came into the season with hopes for contending for a title, so this was a key match for both so early in the season.

And it was especially big for a roster like Elgin's squad that cycled through a large senior class in 2023.

"We graduated eight, but we picked up three freshmen, and they have really stepped up. They have shown that they deserve to be on varsity," Booth said of Kadence Gear, Kendra Appelfeller and Jocelyn Wall.

As for Ridgedale, it only has one senior in Brenda Scott back from a team that was NWCC runners-up in 2023, but Clark said they need to improve their play going forward if contention is going to be the case in 2024.

"We talked about following directions, competing, being aggressive, not quitting," the coach said. "We just didn’t play well — and at our own place — and that’s bad. We’ve still got a long ways to go."

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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Elgin, Ridgedale matchup in key early season NWCC volleyball match Thursday