Upset in the first round of the NJCAA district playoffs at home, the No. 14 Neosho County Panthers fell to the Highland Scotties, 3-1 (1425, 25-20, 26-24, 25-9), on Wednesday night.
“Highland adjusted the things they needed to adjust to battle against us,” Neosho County head coach Lisiane Matsdorff said. “Highland came in and played incredibly. They’ve had a very good season. They had more games than us. They have an excellent coach. And they made the adjustments to overcome our game.”
Stats for Wednesday’s match were unavailable at press time.
Neosho County dominated the first set, cruising to an 11-point win.
“We played a perfect first set,” Matsdorff said. “That was the best set of our season. We were perfect. That’s why I couldn’t believe we lost. But Highland moved pieces around. They had energy.”
The Panthers’ defense eroded as the match progressed. Highland’s attack consistently found holes with Neosho County’s coverage struggling.
“Highland is very versatile with their attack,” Matsdorff said. “They can hit. They can chip. They find the holes. Our players are pretty fast and our mistakes were on defense. Highland’s versatility helped them find the places for the ball to fall, and we didn’t adjust.”
The fourth and final set ended up being the punctuation for a club that experienced a resurgence this fall.
“I’m heartbroken,” Matsdroff said. “This team has had a very strong work ethic. Our sophomores and freshmen meshed so well together. We’ve had incredible victories. This is a team that even in some of our losses, we played very well. But in some moments, we lost some emotional control. We saw that tonight. The girls need to understand that they need to control their mistakes emotionally to improve.”
At-large bid to nationals Neosho County will apply for an at-large bid to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament. Ranked 14th going into Wednesday’s match, the Panthers didn’t have a bad loss on their resume until the Highland loss.
Non-conference wins over Heartland, Central and NEO A&M — all ranked teams — have aged well.
“We had a really tough schedule against nationally-ranked teams,” Matsdorff said. “We’re in the most competitive region in the nation. We have four teams in the top 14. We didn’t play JVs. We played Division I teams. So I believe in miracles. I think they need to take all of that into consideration.”
The Panthers will be a longshot to get in, but it’s not off the table.
“It’s a new season for us if we make the national tournament,” Matsdorff said. “We have to improve our perception of ourselves. If the committee thinks we deserve to go, we’ll do our best to represent our region in the best way possible.”
Looking ahead
If Neosho County isn’t selected for the national tournament, the Panthers’ season ends with a 22-10 overall record.
After a nine-win season a year ago, the Panthers were revitalized in 2025. Ella Bryan was one of the country’s best outside hitters and Sarah Wehrli was a setter that consistently ran the offense.
“My main job now is to keep us among the best teams in the nation,” Matsdorff said. “I have to keep working hard on recruiting. I need good freshmen to build a strong team. I want to have all the pieces to deal with situations like we saw tonight.”
