Scott City volleyball edges Woodland 3-2 on memorable ‘Pink Out’ night

Thursday night’s 3-2 victory over Woodland meant a little more to the Scott City Lady Rams volleyball team and their community.

Head coach Cindy Henry’s squad was playing for more than just a District 2 playoff seed or a continued winning streak — it was playing for those diagnosed with or impacted by cancer. Rams nation came together to honor those individuals by holding its annual ‘Pink Out’ game at Scott City High School.

“We have a lot of players affected by cancer that are a large part of our community as well,” Henry said. “So, tonight means a lot. We try to raise money for a person in our community, which is Gretchen Nurnberger, and she is a part of our school and does a lot for our students. We're just trying to give back to people like that.”

Thursday, Oct. 10, also marked the 10th anniversary of Ashley Gentry’s cancer diagnosis. Ashley is the mother of Scott City senior Kenna Gentry.

“She just pushes me,” Kenna said. “Just by her experience and then through just verbal confirmation. I’m proud of her and she's proud of me every day. I just really love passing that on.”

Using it as extra motivation, Scott City (16-9-2) started off hot and finished strong, outlasting the Cardinals (11-13) behind big games from Kenna and fellow senior Lily Landis.

Action began in the Lady Rams’ favor as the team jumped out to a quick 5-0 advantage in the opening set.

A timeout by Woodland changed its luck as the away squad shifted the momentum and went up 16-11 within the blink of an eye. Despite Woodland’s best efforts to cap off a comeback, Scott City scored six unanswered to storm in front 24-23. Landis and freshman Skylar Watson stole the spotlight right back, recording back-to-back kills to finish off the first set 26-24 in favor of Scott City.

The momentum flipped to the Woodland corner in the ensuing set when the Cardinals stormed out to a 13-6 lead, which forced a Lady Rams timeout.

The Cardinals continued to grind away behind sharp serving and smooth volleying as Woodland put the set to sleep behind a 6-0 run, capped off by a Makayla Altenthal kill to seal a 25-14 set victory.

The Lady Rams opened the next set on fire, taking an early 14-8 lead behind beautiful kills from Kenna and senior Ramsey Spinks.

Scott City continued to stay ahead as six different players chipped away in the scoring department to finish off the set 25-19, including a set-clinching kill that saw Kenna leap in the air facing center court before changing her body angle and tipping the ball over the net.

The fourth set was nearly a spitting image of the second, as Woodland built an early lead and claimed a 25-18 win to force a fifth and final set.

Scott City dug deep and sprinted to a 6-2 advantage behind several Landis kills, forcing Woodland to call a timeout.

The Cardinals slightly recovered, coming out of the break by cutting the deficit to 8-7, but Lady Rams senior Maggie Jones ended the contest with a match-clinching kill.

Scott City won the fifth and final set 15-10 to defeat Woodland for the sixth consecutive time in the series.

The Lady Rams pushed their winning streak to three games and have now won four of their previous five, with the postseason on the doorstep. A strong defensive effort continues to give Scott City increased chances at potentially making a deep District 2 Tournament run.

“We're going to have to stay disciplined,” Henry said. “If we can stay disciplined in our passing and our defense, good things happen for us and we can put into our setter’s hands. We have the arsenal to do it. It's just if we can stay disciplined there.”

Scott City will return to its home court at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, for a match against New Madrid County Central.