Linn came away empty-handed from a pair of five-set matches last week, but Coach Megan Russell saw two very different performances in losses to Fatima and Southern Boone.

Linn battled Fatima for nearly 2 ½ hours Tuesday before falling 27-25, 22-25, 19-25, 25-15, 13-15 in another tight installment of the Osage County rivalry.

“This was a pretty good game all around,” Russell said. “It’s always a good rivalry game between the two schools. Last year Fatima took the win column back, and we were going into this game with motivation.”

The match went back and forth most of the night. Russell said Linn did a lot of things well but struggled to finish extended rallies.

“Our girls struggled on the long rallies,” Russell said. “We were doing so many things right but just weren’t able to close out the rally in our favor.”

Linn served at nearly 90% and recorded eight aces, with Ali Russell and Kylie Goans counting two apiece. The defense totaled 154 digs and five blocks.

Russell led the defense with 35 digs, followed by Goans with 34 and Kendra Robinson with 31. Carley Brandt had three blocks, and Jorja Kempker added two.

Linn spread the offense around while finishing with 56 kills. Goans led the way with 20, Nevaeh Ames had 10, Nicole Grellner added eight, and Brandt finished with seven.

“Despite the loss, it was a great game overall on both sides and very entertaining for fans on both sides,” Russell said. “The talent that Osage County has on the volleyball courts is amazing and always fun to watch.”

Two nights later, Linn again went five sets at Southern Boone, but the path to the loss was much different.

Linn took the first two sets, 25-20 and 25-17, and appeared to be in control before Southern Boone rallied to win, 25-22, 25-19, 15-7.

“We mentally couldn’t perform that night,” Russell said. “We started with the early lead but just couldn’t finish.”

Russell pointed directly to errors throughout the lineup. Linn committed 18 service errors, 18 attack errors, and 18 serve-receive errors, numbers Russell said amounted to 54 points given away during the match. “We had too many errors all the way around — at the serving line, at the net, and in the backcourt,” she said. “It seemed to be a domino effect throughout the night, as one thing started going bad, and it affected other parts of the game and multiple players.”

Linn served at 80%, well below the standard Russell expects from her team. “We had more service errors than what we lost by in total points,” she said. “It is expected to have errors — I do not expect perfection — but we cannot perform at this level and expect to be competitive.”

Russell said the lesson coming out of the loss was less about eliminating every mistake than about how the Lady Cats respond when mistakes happen. “No matter what is happening during the game, we have to keep working hard,” Russell said. “If things aren’t going right — WORK HARD. If things are going right — keep WORKING HARD.”

The team returned to practice Friday with what Russell described as a reset mentality as Linn prepared for its next matchups.

Linn’s junior varsity also lost both matches. Fatima won 25-5, 25-20, although Russell was encouraged by Linn’s response after a difficult opening set.

“They were able to turn it around in the second set, but just didn’t have enough gas to make it to the end,” she said. “We are happy with the effort we saw in the second set and will get back to work on correcting our mistakes.”

Southern Boone defeated the Linn JV 25-15, 28-26. Russell said the team nearly forced a third set and continues to show growth, with the mental side of the game remaining a focus. “It is so important that when you make a mistake, you have to move on to the next play,” she noted. “Some of the girls are struggling with that and just let one mistake dictate how they continue to play.”

The C team lost 25-3, 25-6 at Fatima. At Southern Boone, a miscommunication left Linn not expecting to play a C-team match, but the teams played one set after arriving, with Southern Boone winning 25-15. Russell said Linn continues working on rotations and helping younger players become as comfortable in matches as they are in practice.

Linn will host a six-team junior varsity tournament on Saturday.