Lady Dragons rebound to down Winnetonka, kickoff MEC play Thursday against Benton

The Cameron High School Lady Dragon Volleyball Team hopes to ride the momentum of Tuesday’s sweep of Winnetonka into Thursday’s Midland Empire Conference opener against perennial powerhouse Benton.

After knocking off the Winnetonka Lady Griffins 25-11, 25-14 and 25-12, the Lady Dragons will next turn their attention to Benton, who comes into Thursday’s MEC showdown undefeated at 3-0 with victories over Lawson, MEC rival Maryville and Riverside. 

“It gives us a lot of confidence. We had to change our lineup because [senior middle blocker Kristi Morris] got hurt last week. It doesn’t matter what I throw at the girls. They come at it and even give 110 percent. I even changed up the rotation in the second set,” Cameron coach Addie Floyd said. 

After drubbing the Lady Griffins by double-digits in the first set, the Lady Dragons seemed to have a flashback of last Thursday’s 3-1 loss to Lawson, where they jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but seemed to experience an adrenaline dump as the Lady Cardinals rallied to take the next three sets, and the match - handing Cameron their first loss of 2023. Coach Floyd said much of the fault in Tuesday’s second set falls on her experimenting with the lineup ahead of the MEC opener. Regardless, the Lady Dragons eventually settled in after a slew of aces by junior outside hitter Addi McVicker, who continues proving herself as one of Cameron’s deadliest weapons. 

“It was just setting me up at the right time, setting me where I needed to be set,” McVicker said. 

Another player slowly marking her mark as an upperclassman is outside hitter Ava Henry, who had a few timely kills - including one on match point in the third set to secure the sweep. Although breaking into the lineup last season, Henry continues seeing more and more playing time and helping exploit Cameron’s greatest strength - their depth. 

“She fits in perfectly with us. It’s great ... Our whole goal for this week is Benton. We had practice [Monday] and our mentality is we have Benton on Thursday, and we’re working at each practice toward what we have to do to succeed against them,” Floyd said.