NEW MARKET — Southmont and Crawfordsville volleyball always seem to play tough-close matches and that was again the case on Tuesday as the Mounties hosted their county rival with county title hanging in the balance. While the scores remained close for a majority of the game, the scoreboard at the very end read 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-20) in favor of the visiting Athenians as CHS got to celebrate a county title on their rivals home floor.
“We expected South to come out and play us tough like they usually do,” Crawfordsville coach Kelly Johnson said. “We did struggle with playing some strong offense tonight and kind of just played with them and not aggresively like we normally do. You have to credit them for working hard in all three sets and we wish them the best down the road.”
In the Athenian victory, Macy Bruton tallied 27 kills, 9 digs, and three aces as she now sits at 1,915 kills for her career and is just 23 digs away from 1,000 with 977. Jessica Tribble added 29 assists, and three aces for the Athenian offense while Halle Elliot notched 15 digs.
One of the goals has now been checked off for the Athenians with the county title. Johnson notes how it’s something to celebrate for all the hard work that her girls have put into this season.
“I feel like we deserved it,” Johnson siad of the county crown. “We came down here a few years ago and they beat us for our first loss and snapped our 15-game win streak. We never take anything for granted when it comes to county and conference.”
While the scoreboard did say 3-0 in favor of the Athenians, Southmont coach Erin Barry thought that her team played about as well as it could have against a very tough opponent in CHS.
“We know that Crawfordsville is a fantastic team and that Macy is a great hitter, but I couldn’t be more proud of how we played. We came out and were reall communicating well and were exectuing a lot of things we’ve talked about. Our girls have a tremendous drive in them and they want to finish out the season strong. This I think boosted their confidence and it shows that we can play against anyone on our schedule.”
Dara Watson seven kills led the way for the Mounties while Chelsea Veatch had five and Kalli Todd ended with three in the loss. Mallory Mason tallied 19 assists. On the defensive side of the ball Veatch led the way with 18 digs with Taylor Anderson notched 13, Mason 10 and Regan Remlely added seven.
The Mounties fall to 8-9 (2-4 SAC) with the loss and they will be back in action on Wednesday when they host another SAC foe in Danville.
Crawfordsville improves to 15-5 (2-1 SAC) with the win and they also return to the court on Wednesday when they will host one of the top teams in the SAC in Tri-West (13-5, 5-0 SAC).
“Tomorrow is a very big match for us,” Johnson said of the battle with the Bruins. “They’re one of the premier teams in our conference so we’ll have to see what we can do. Both teams will come in ready to play so we’re just going to have to take it one point at at time.”
