The Wright City volleyball program played in the Orchard Farm Tournament on Saturday, Sept. 21. While the team did not see the success they wanted too, they have found the key to winning more games. 

The Wildcats lost two games and tied their last and Head Coach Shannon Brunnert noted it was an off day for the team technique-wise. However, after coming off a couple of big wins, she added they will be focusing on how to keep that steady progression throughout the rest of the season. 

“The games that we have won, it’s because we’ve come together as a team,” Brunnert said. “Now, we’re working on how to consistently do that and not be selfish on the court.”

After some tough losses in the beginning of the season, the team turned their focus to the mental aspect of the game, making sure to translate what they had learned in practice onto the court. 

“It’s not about the mistake you just made. It’s about the team as the whole and just kind of taking that skill building on top of that, but keeping the mental aspect of it as well,” Brunnert said. 

Brunnert noted the biggest difference between the beginning of the season to now was the environment of practices. 

“We come into practice and we are working hard the entire time, and just keeping my expectations high for them inside of practice and communicating with them why we’re doing these things,” Brunnert said. “It’s not perfect and they’re all still pretty young and have a lot of room to grow.” 

Brunnert said it was an off day for the team on Saturday, but they did a good job covering, moving their feet and keeping up their level of play. 

In their last game of the tournament, Hailey Billham had two kills and one block. Emerson Wendt had four assists and one kill. Hailie Davis, Josephine Grueneberg, Zola Jones and Jaiden Walch each recorded one kill. 

The Wildcats will be back on Saturday at the Megan Gross Invitational hosted by Warrenton High School.