Looking at Chanute’s roster, the first thing one might notice is its height — or lack of it. 

The tallest Blue Comet player stands at 5-feet, 8 inches and they don’t have that traditional dominant player at the net. Whatever Chanute might lack in height, it makes up for it with heart and hustle. 

“We have a very strong defense and we have a couple girls that can really hit the ball hard on top of it,” Chanute coach Jory Murry said. “We have girls that will not let the ball hit the floor and that just adds an extra layer of hustle and knowing that you have your teammates behind you no matter what. That really changes the game for them.” 

It is that scrappy attitude that has helped the Blue Comets to 20 straight wins to start the 2025 season. The latest victory came Thursday against another undefeated team at the time, Paola. 

Paola, which won its first 12 matches to start the season, hosted Chanute in a non-league dual last Thursday and one team was going to lose its first match. 

Chanute took care of business as it cruised to a 25-20, 25-19 and 25-20 victory over the Panthers to move to 20-0 on the season and the Blue Comets are off to a memorable start. 

“They were super excited,” Murry said. “The last few years we have always had some good matchups with Paola and it is always very good competition. They usually have a very loud student section too, so the girls had their minds in the right place, ignored the loud environment and did an awesome job.” 
 

The Blue Comets have put together those 20 straight victories thanks to the team’s trust in one another and unique lineups that put them in the best position to succeed.  

Currently, Chanute has two middle hitters — Addy Hughes and Josey Henson — who also play in the back row. Both players are the go-to hitters for the Blue Comets as Hughes has a team-high 190 kills on the year, while Josey Henson has 162.

The Blue Comets also have an all-around player from a year ago, who is the team’s full time libero. Senior Kiley Dillow, who is a 2-time state champion wrestler, made the move to libero and has been a big asset in her new role. 

“Kiley had a shoulder injury, so we are just trying to protect her shoulder a little bit and she is back row only this year,” Murry said. “She reads the ball so well and does an amazing job.  She is willing to sacrifice herself on the floor, and she is a wrestler, so she is not worried about getting banged up. She is a big leader defensively for us. 

“Two middle blockers that play back row for me as well and they are same way. They are so locked in as well. They don’t want to be the one person who lets that ball drop. When you have a whole team full of players like that it makes a big difference.” 
 

Chanute has beaten some good teams along the way as the Blue Comets have won two tournament titles this season. They defeated Louisburg in the championship of the Frontenac Invitational and then followed it up with a win over Neodesha to win the Erie tournament.  

“The last week and a half a lot of people have been talking about our record,” Murry said. “That is not something we have been talking about, we are just taking it one game at a time and learning from every game and seeing how we can get better. The girls are having a lot of fun and I couldn’t be more proud of them. 

Dillow, Hughes, along with Josey and Presley Henson are the Blue Comets’ four seniors this season and were on the team last year that fell short of a state tournament bid in a three-set loss to Holton in the sub-state championship.  

“Having those four coming back we knew we were going to be talented again, it was just a matter of filling those other spots and how the new girls were going to fit in,” Murry said. “They have done a fantastic job of filling those open roles and the seniors have been such good leaders for us. I wouldn’t say surprised, but would I have guessed we would be 20-0? No, probably not.” 

Those seniors have also helped Chanute to three consecutive Southeast Kansas League titles, with the last two finishing undefeated in league play. Now, they hope to take the Blue Comets to that next step. 

“Deep down these girls want to get their butts to state,” Murry said. “We got so close last year as we lost to Holton in a tough third set. That is our ultimate goal is to make it to the state tournament because none of these girls have been there before. That would be awesome to see all their hard work come to fruition, but we still have a lot of teams left in front of us.” 
 

As for Paola, it made a little history of its own as it opened its season with a victory over traditional Frontier League power, Spring Hill. It was the Panthers’ first win over the Broncos since 2014. 

The Panthers then reeled off 11 straight wins, which included an Iola Tournament title and league victories over Tonganoxie and Ottawa, which moved them all the way up to No. 4 in the previous state rankings. 

On Sept. 22, the Panthers also hosted Maranatha Academy — the defending Class 2A state champs — and won in three sets to set up the unbeaten showdown against Chanute. 

“Hopefully this will just fuel us moving forward,” Paola coach Marie Palmer said. “We have a ton of returners and a lot of our younger kids have really stepped up for us into big roles. I could tell the girls were a little nervous and anxious about playing in a pretty loud environment like this with who we were going against. We just needed to go in confident and we had won 12 games in a row for a reason, but I think the nerves got to us a little bit. 

“Against Maranatha, we had beaten them a couple times last year, and I knew they had a lot of girls back from that team as well. The girls really just came out calm and played their game. It really was awesome and very proud of them for that.” 

Other Volleyball Standouts: 
 

• Labette County senior Amery Baker earned the trifecta for the Grizzlies as she earned her 500th career dig, kill and assist.
   

  

• Maranatha Academy junior libero Macy Karlin racked up her 1,000th career dig during its Sept. 18th victory against Heritage Christian. 
   

  

• Blue Valley West, the No. 1 team in Class 6A, continued its dominance as the Jaguars won their home tournament on Saturday. They went 5-0 with victories over Olathe East, Blue Valley Northwest, Notre Dame de Sion, Shawnee Heights and St. Michael the Archangel and didn’t lose a set the entire day. 
   

  

• Maranatha Academy won the West Franklin Tournament on Saturday as the Eagles improved to 18-3 on the season and didn’t lose a set the entire day, which included a revenge win over Paola from earlier in the week. 
   

  

• St. Mary’s Colgan improved to 12-10 on the season as the Panthers won the Sharon Wedman Classic in Cherryvale.  
   

• Lansing battled a little adversity to finish third at the Topeka-Seaman tournament on Saturday. The Lions went 5-1 on the day, with their lone loss coming to Maize South. They earned victories over Spring Hill, Topeka-Hayden, Bishop Miege (twice) and Seaman. Outside hitters Avery Sands had 20 kills against Hayden and led the Lions with 90 kills and was selected to the all-tournament team. Setter Brooklyn Andrews also had more than 100 assists.
  The Lions had to play without right side hitter Halle Laincz, who was out with an injury. Lansing finished its week with a 7-1 record that included wins over De Soto and Shawnee Heights to remain undefeated in the UKC.