NEW MARKET - Chelsea Veatch went from Homecoming Queen Friday night to queen of the volleyball court Monday as she helped lead Southmont to a 3-0 win over South Vermillion.
The senior had 11 kills, half of the Mounties total, as South dispatched the Wildcats 25-17, 25-21, 25-14.
“There wasn’t a lot of energy (in the gym), so I told the girls they had to make their own energy,” South coach Erin Barry said. “Chelsea was a big part of that.”
Veatch added a team-high seven digs as the Mounties move to 9-10 on the season, while South Vermillion falls to 10-9.
The home squad jumped all over things to start the first set, heading to a 15-2 lead. Regan Remley served a 9-0 run, including three of her four aces.
The Wildcats regrouped a bit and got as close as five, taking advantage of five Mounties service errors, but it wasn’t enough.
The visitors returned the favor in the second set, taking a 13-5 lead, but South fought back with a 16-4 run to take the lead. They matched points to close out the set.
The third set was back and forth early. South took a small lead and were up 16-13 when Brady Spencer moved to the back line to serve. The senior served seven straight as the Mounties got to within one of match point. A Dara Watson kill on the last play ended the night as the concession workers were handing out leftover popcorn.
“It was just one of those Monday nights,” South Vermillion coach Alison Cottrell said. “We had a rough night. We weren’t talking well. We just have to take this for what it was, go back and regroup. Southmont is a really good team, and they always give us tough matches. We did get good efforts from Calee Coleman and Sophie Thomas. Thomas is a great server and back row passer. This team has improved a lot over the season, and had to make a lot of changes during the season to make us better. This team has handled all those changes well - one of the best I’ve had.”
Coleman had a kill for the Wildcats, while Thomas had five kills and an ace.
Remley had six kills and Watson five to tally the 22 for South. Mallory Mason had the 22 assists on the kills.
Spencer had five digs, as did Remley. Taylor Anderson added 13 digs.
“We wanted to come out and serve and play aggressively,” Barry said. “Except for the start of the second set, we did that fairly well. It was just such a quiet night - very different. We had some good moments in the third set. We told the girls they just had to play through the match - stay focused and make their own noise, make their own energy. It was a good non-conference win.”
Both teams have plenty of matches coming to shake off the Monday blahs.
The Wildcats play host to Seeger Tuesday and have a weekend tournament.
The Mounties will take on two sectional foes this week, with a Wednesday match at South Putnam and then a home Thursday match against Parke Heritage. Thursday’s match will also be Senior Night.
