The Houston volleyball team’s district opener mirrored the 2025 season. Ups and downs. Positive stretches and tough ones.
Ultimately, it ended in a loss.
The No. 4 Lady Tigers were defeated 21-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-17 by fifth seeded Mountain Grove Tuesday night in the first round of the Class 3 District 11 Tournament.
“This is the time of year that everyone has to put their best out there,” HHS coach Julia Sloan said, “and we didn’t do that for a full game.”
The Lady Tigers led late in the first three sets but only won the first. It was tied 21-all when Mountain Grove hit a pair of kill attempts into the net and HHS senior Kynlee Weaver put down her kill attempt. The Lady Panthers’ next hit was out of bounds, giving the Lady Tigers the first set.Houston led 22-19 in the second set – thanks to a 5-0 run highlighted by a Hannah Ennis (pictured) kill – and 21-12 in the third. But both of those leads disappeared. “I thought we came out with a lot of energy but couldn’t carry that through the full game,” Sloan said. “Ultimately, we didn’t finish.”Houston won 8 of 10 matches during a late season run. But the team struggled down the stretch with three straight defeats, including a tough five set loss at Cabool, home defeat to the last seed in the district (Ava) and the district-opening loss, to finish 18-10-3. The match was the final one for six seniors: Kayla Wagner, Gracyn McNiell, Carli Cummins-Drake, Annabelle Westbrook (hitting above), Weaver and Ennis. “I want to thank our seniors for the time they have dedicated to our program,” Sloan said. “They will be missed.”
