KANSAS CITY — The Maryville Spoofhounds volleyball team entered the third-place match of the Missouri Class 2 state tournament with hopes of redemption after a disappointing first day.

Instead the Spoofhounds were unable to shake the same nerves that plagued them in the round robin semifinals, and they fell in straight sets Saturday morning to College Heights Christian, 25-22, 29-27 at Municipal Auditorium.

It left Maryville, 37-3, with a fourth-place finish — the best in the school history.

Despite losing in straight sets, the Spoofhounds were never out of either set.

“I would just say we played nervous,” coach Lori Klaus said. “In that first set today, our serve receive broke down, and we can’t run our offense if our serve receive isn’t there. That really hurt us. And I think the nerves kept them from playing like I know they can.”

Maryville led 9-6 in the first set before the Cougars took advantage of some defensive lapses and extended the lead to four points, a gap they would keep most of the set.

After winning the first set, the Cougars didn’t slow down at the start of the second either.

College Heights jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead before Maryville slowly started to work its way back. The Spoofhounds closed the lead to 8-7 before again seeing the deficit extend to 17-12.

From that point however, Maryville battled back, taking an eventual 23-22 lead.

“These girls have heart,” Klaus said. “They knew it was about to be over, and they had to fight to win and they found it within themselves to fight back. But I definitely think we won the second set.”

Maryville led 25-24 and appeared to win the set 26-24 when the Spoofhound’s attack was called for a lift on a kill.

College Heights couldn’t return the ball, but the Cougars received the point due to the violation. Maryville battled back to tie the game twice more, but eventually fell 29-27.

Despite the fourth-place finish, there was still plenty for Maryville to be happy about.

“We definitely had a good season,” senior Jordan Stiens said. “It was a memorable one, but we wish we could have had a different finish to it.”

Stiens led Maryville with nine kills. As a team, Maryville hit just .065, well below their season average of .274.

To Klaus though, one weekend of volleyball didn’t shape the entire season.

“It has been an incredible season, record breaking in many ways,” she said. “Not a lot of teams get to end their season at state, so we were happy to be here, but we know we could have played better.”