COLUMBIA, Ill. — Breese Central senior Peyton Benhoff had a jolt of motivation heading into the Columbia gym on Thursday.

“This morning, we saw the state rankings that came out,” Benhoff said. “It was like the top 10 teams in 2A. We weren't on it, and they were No. 2.”

Benhoff and her Cougars teammates certainly played like a state-ranked team, handing Columbia its first loss of the season in a 9-25, 25-21, 25-23 win in a key Cahokia Conference Mississippi Division girls volleyball match.

“Just a really good performance and a way to respond by our girls,” first-year Central coach Kristen Torre said. “You know, we came out that first set pretty slow, not a very quick start, and to be able to flip the switch and turn it on in sets two and three was huge.”

Madelyn Luebbers had 10 kills, B

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