Crawfordsville volleyball and first-year coach Allison Manwell have been looking for a statement win all season. It finally came on Tuesday and no bigger stage to do it than at home against a county rival. The Athenians welcomed Southmont and were able to come away with a big 3-1 win (25-20, 13-25, 25-21, 25-20) over their county rivals. The Athenians controlled the game, never allowing the Mounties to build much momentum and the front line for the Cville shined.
Senior Devan Johnson had a season-best 16 kills in the win and was joined by Reese Price with nine, Ally Strickland eight and Katy Grace Whitecotton ended with seven.
“All season long I’ve tried to pump Devan up and telling her that she doesn’t have to do it all,” Manwell said. “She has six other girl behind her who can get near that double-digit mark. But when Devan is on like she was for us tonight, that’s huge for us and for her because she definitely swung the momentum our way multiple times tonight.”
Other stats for the Athenians (5-15, 1-2 SAC) included Claire Peacock recording five aces, and Addie Hodges four. Sam Rohr finished with a pair of her own. Peacock added 13 digs, Emma Buser nine, Alayna Hall, Ally Strickland, and Reese Price all had seven with Rohr ending with eight. Peacock rounded out her night with 21 assists and Strickland joined her with 17.
In the Athenians other county loss to North Montgomery a week ago, the Athenians were up in each of the first two sets, but failed to close them out. This time they weren’t about to let the Mounties (6-11, 1-5 SAC) do the same thing.
“Even if it’s not to win the set, we’ve really been focusing on stringing together points,” Manwell added. “Whether that be the first to five or 10 or whatever it might be. While it was frustrating at North to see that happen, but our girls were in the game mentally and were able to finish off those sets when they needed to.”
South was led in digs by Jenna Grino’s 17, Mallory Mason had 12 with Catie Himes adding 10. DeLorean Mason and Himes led the Mounties with nine kills each. Kenzie Douglas, Cheyenne Shaw, and Layla Gomez all had five. Mallory had 26 assists in the loss with DeLorean having three aces.
For Mountie coach Erin Barry, the struggle of being consistent from match to match is the primary focus for her team right now. South was winners of three out of their last four games coming in, but was unable to add to that streak against their county rivals.
“Crawfordsville did a good job of taking us out of our rhythm, and we just were never able to get back in it,” Barry said. “It was just one of those nights. We told the girls that it was going to be a long night because it was county, we were on the road, and we’ve been in plenty of four-five setters already this year. We just couldn’t close things out after winning that second set.”
The decisive third set was the game-changer for both county teams. Cville gained the momentum back and were able to ride that the rest of the way. Manwell thought her team responded very well after dropping set two.
“Their attitude and mentality never dropped and that was the biggest thing I saw out of them,” she said. “I was a little nervous of how they would respond, but that was the best answer and sign of resiliency that I’ve seen.”
Both county teams will now turn their attention to Wednesday when they both are right back in Sagamore Conference play.
The Mounties will travel to Danville to conclude conference play while the Athenians will travel to Lizton for a battle with Tri-West.
