Thursday was a night of firsts for Warren Central’s volleyball team.

The Lady Vikes played their first home game in more than a month, in their newly renovated gym, and won their Region 4-III opener Thursday, 3-0 (25-9, 25-19, 25-14) over Callaway.

“This was a big one for us,” Warren Central coach Matt Gullett said. “This was our district home opener.”

This was the second home game of the season for Warren Central (8-7, 2-1 Region 4-III), but the first since the wood floor in the school’s Gym A was replaced over the past month. They’d played more than a dozen games in a row on the road.

Gullett said a few too many errors were committed in the second set, but the Lady Vikes bounced back and found a way to a win.

“The second set we got a little sloppy with our passing. We’ve just got to get out of that tendency. Sometimes we get a little streaky to where if we make an error suddenly we make two, three, four errors. That is something we’ve got to clean up, ” Gullett said.

The biggest factor in Thursday’s match was serving. Sydney Stuart, Taylor Smith and Laney Smith each had seven aces.

“They nearly won us a set off their aces alone,” Gullett said.

In addition to serving, he said the team played well offensively, with a few new plays put into the mix — some of them successful and others not. Stuart had 11 kills. Taylor Smith had eight assists.

“Sydney (Stuart) was on fire tonight. She was attacking the ball really well. Taylor (Smith) and Nikirah (Bridges) were both setting very, very well,” Gullett said.

Gullett was especially pleased with the play of Brittany Craft, a senior who missed all of last season with a shoulder injury. Craft had four kills on Thursday.

“(Craft) looked pretty good tonight for a senior who didn’t even get to play her junior year because she blew her shoulder out,” Gullett said. “It’s great to have her back out on the court. She’s a big difference maker for us.”

This year, the Lady Vikes are shooting for some more firsts — and some seconds. They made the Class III playoffs for the first time last season, and their main goal is to get back there. To do it, they’ll have to beat some of the state’s traditional powers like region rival Clinton, which comes to Warren Central for a match on Tuesday night at 6:30.

Warren Central got one of those first-time wins last week when they beat Germantown in four sets, and Gullet said the team played well in earlier losses to Clinton and Ridgeland. The first match with Clinton went five sets, and the Ridgeland match last week was a competitive four-setter.

“We made the playoffs for the first time last year. We’re shooting to make the playoffs again, have a winning season and get some wins against people we never have (beaten),” Gullett said. “We’re right there with these teams we need to be competing with.”

Gullett said he has three seniors on the team who are playing hard because they want to make a difference this year. But he is also excited for the three sophomores who have played consistently all season.

“We’ve got a lot of young girls getting a lot of experience,” Gullett said.

Another first Gullett is shooting for is to host a playoff game in the renovated gym. Because of construction work, the Lady Vikes were on the road for over a month and had to move some previously scheduled home games.

“We lost a few home games. We switched out with some other teams. The rest of the season we’ll be home a lot more than we’ll be away,” Gullett said.

He was glad the team was able to get a victory to start their home stand.

“We were excited about that, to christen the new gym with a win,” Gullett said.