On Saturday, September 18, the lady trojan volleyball team traveled from Potosi to Cuba, Missouri to attend the Cuba Invitational volleyball tournament. The tournament started with the girls playing a few pool play games before getting to the big bracket. The girls arrived at Cuba middle school at 6:45 that morning and were excited to participate in their first tournament of the regular season. 

The first game started with Potosi playing St. James.  The Lady Trojans’ huge 2-0 win gave them the lead in their pool.

After the first game, Coach Sadler told her girls, “We have to keep the consistency going throughout the whole day.”  Throughout the 2nd and last game of the pool, the girls pulled out a win for both giving the girls gold in their pool. After an hour of waiting, the girls went to Cuba high school to play in the gold bracket.  The girls traveled to Cuba High School to play in the gold bracket with Steelville, Union, and Warrenton. These four schools all competed for the win at 1:30.

Warrenton and Union battled back and forth until the Warrenton team barely defeated Union. By that time the Lady Trojans were pumped to battle for the first-place trophy. In the past 5 years of this tournament, Warrenton had won 3 out of those 5 times, and Potosi saw that as a challenge. With senior Annie McCaul out due to injury, the girls had to get out of their comfort zone and play very well in their new rotation. It started with Warrenton taking the first serve, putting the Trojans in serve-receive. The first serve was placed in the 5 spot (back row middle) and it was passed by libero Sami Huck to setter Kadence Sadler and ended with a kill by senior Carley Hampton. 

As the rallies kept going, the Potosi Trojans came out with a win over the first set of the match. In the second set of the match, the Trojans battled but fell short at the end of the second.  The down referee called, “captains” and that was when the Trojans realized they needed to kick things in gear. Captain Hampton rallied her team for the third set. Usually, the game goes to 15 on the third, but with a short referee discussion, they decided to go to 25. The score of the last set was neck and neck until the very end. Junior Jade Williams went up for a block and injured her ankle on her way back down, leaving the Trojans with only six healthy players.

The coaches and referees had a discussion and libero Sami Huck had to change jerseys and play in the front row. All of the front row hitters were in the back row while our defensive specialist played the front. Setter Kadence Sadler had to think fast and call what she had to call. The score was 23-20 and the Trojans had to have a rally to save the game.. As the Warrenton team was hammering swings the PHS back row executed several perfect passes which ended in a score of 24-23. The Trojans need one point to beat the Warrenton record. The serve came from across the net and freshman Ava Robart made a pass to Sadler who set it to sophomore Paige West in the back row. West’s hit seemed like it was in slow motion. 

As the ball sailed to the back corner the line judge made a late call and called the ball in. The team rushed to the middle and the game was over. The Trojans won and the team was jumping and crying with joy. After that day the girls realized that they were back.