LINDEN — For the first time since 2017 the North Montgomery Chargers volleyball team has defeated their county rival Southmont. The Chargers and Mounties met up Thursday with bragging rights on the line and North Montgomery was able to walk away with a five-set victory (25-18, 17-25, 23-25, 25-15, 15-7).
The win for the Chargers (2-8, 1-2 SAC) is their second win in a row after defeating Cloverdale on Monday.
“This feels pretty good,” North Montgomery Coach Whitney Hutson said. “I feel like we played a complete team for the first time in a long time tonight. I’m proud of our girls who came out once again and played strong. I hope the energy from these past two wins continues to carry over because we have a big game coming up on Saturday.”
Southmont (2-9, 0-4 SAC) showed fight but came up just short as the Mounties were playing their first game since September 9th due to COVID-19. Missing two starters and still getting their rhythm back, the Mounties gave the Chargers everything they could handle.
“Playing a five-set match for your first game in two weeks is tough,” Southmont co-coach Erin Barry said. “We were right there with them the entire night and have been with a majority of our opponents this season, it just comes down to figuring out how to close out games.”
Tayler Anderson led the way on defense for the Mounties with 29 digs in the loss. Regan Remley recorded 11 kills to go along with 15 digs and two aces. Chelsea Veatch had 11 digs, seven kills and two aces. Makia Pierce added six kills, and Dara Watson had 3 blocks and two aces.
The sister-duo of McKenzie and Trinity Schroeder, along with Carli DeSmet played a big role in the Charger win. With both Schroeder sisters standing over six-feet tall and DeSmet standing 5’9, they anchored the front line and sent numerous Mountie shot attempts back over the net.
McKenzie led the block party with eight blocks and added in seven kills. Trinity added in 12 kills, nine digs, and three blocks while DeSmet tallied three of her own to total 14 blocked shots on the night.
“It helps that they’re six feet tall,” Hutson joked of the Schroeder sisters. “Along with that they’re just very athletic and able to get to a lot of shots that most girls couldn’t.”
“They did a great job of keeping us out of system tonight and were very good at the net,” Barry said of the Chargers front line.”
Madi Welch added in 22 assists while Ashlynn Anderson recorded 15 kills and added 14 digs on the defensive end. Rylie Gayler ended her night with 11 digs as well.
After the first three sets, the Mounties held a two sets to one lead, but the Chargers never wavered. The final two sets belonged completely to the Chargers and Hutson loved the energy that her teamed showed when they needed it the most
“They knew what was at stake and they came out and wanted to win,” she said. “You can’t ask for more than that. This win sets a nice precedent for what we can be as a team moving forward.”
“We’ve had starters in and out of practice all season,” Southmont co-coach Casey Phillips said. “Tonight it was more a learn and adapt as we go along type deal. You could see the rust from not playing in two weeks. This (North Montgomery) is never an easy place to play either. Their crowd got to us a little bit and we just needed to block out the noise and play our game.”
The Chargers will host Danville on Saturday at 11:30 while the Mounties will travel to take on South Vermillion on Monday.