LINDEN — North Montgomery volleyball has stayed competitive all season long and finally on Tuesday against county rival Southmont, things broke the Chargers way. With county chase points, conference standings, and overall bragging rights on the line the host Chargers took down their county rivals in four sets 25-19, 25-15, 23-25, 25-22.
It was the Chargers second win against their county rival this season as back in the North Putnam Invitational the Chargers beat the Mounties 2-0. But on their home court once the Chargers came to play from the opening serve. Being down 17-19 North Montgomery (3-5, 1-1 SAC) rallied off eight straight points and closed out set one one with an ace from sophomore Ayden Braun. The Chargers carried that momentum into set two where they led by as many as 12 points including a 15-3 advantage at one point.
The Mounties did rally in set three in what was a back and forth set but the visitors showed they weren’t going down without a fight. Early in set four the Mounties scored the first four points and held the lead until mid-way thru when the Chargers took a small lead of their own. South didn’t let the Chargers pull away but could never pull themselves ahead as the Chargers and their fans celebrated on their home floor a win over their county rivals.
“We told the girls that we had to come out each set and play it like it was a brand new one and that we couldn’t think about the previous set we just won,” Charger coach Taylor Dyson said. “We knew that South was going to come back and have some fight in them and they did. It was a tough match but I’m super proud of the girls for getting the job done.”
For the Chargers in the win junior Piper Ramey filled up the stat sheet with 10 digs, 13 assists, and seven aces. Senior Annabel Anderson led the way with six kills, sophomore libero Ayden Braun had 10 digs while fellow senior Trista Thomas had three aces.
“The energy and intensity level is something that we’ve really been preaching with these girls the last few weeks,” Dyson added. “When these girls get up and are up and excited, they’re really fun to watch. They can put plays together and fight for every point like they did tonight.Tonight shows that they can compete and battle and also handle the pressure when someone else applies it on us. Those are things we’ve struggled with in the past.”
For Southmont (3-6, 1-1 SAC), it was a night that they’ll likely want to forget as they continually had self-inflicted wounds all game long. The Mounties tallied 19 service errors in the loss and had points where they’d let a ball drop inbetween two players. Mountie coach Erin Barry was rightfully frustrated after the loss.
“We haven’t served this terrible all season,” she said. “Having very little service errors is a goal that we set early on in the year and it’s just hard to win a game when you commit 19 service errors in four matches. We gave them points left and right tonight Tonight is something these girls are going to have to learn from and not let things spiral out of control. They have to take what they learned from this game and apply to games down the road.”
Mallory Mason had 22 assists on the night for the Mounties with Cheyenne Shaw, Kenzie Douglas and Layla Gomez all having four kills each. Katie Himes led the way with six in the loss. Jenna Grino was busy all night defensively for the Mounties with 35 digs. DeLorean Mason had 12 while Himes ended with 11.
Both teams will have tough challenges immediately as the Mounties will be back in Sagamore Conference action Wednesday when they travel to take on Western Boone (6-2). The Chargers will go for two straight wins when they welcome the Riverton Parke Panthers (4-1) to Linden on Wednesday.
