NEW MARKET - Southmont’s volleyball team took all their preseason work to heart with a 3-0 season-opening win over North Vermillion.
The 25-19, 25-16, 25-10 victory saw the Mounties serve well and limit mistakes as they shook off a few opening-night jitters and cruise to the win.
“We got in a groove after we came out a little nervous,” South coach Erin Berry said. “We did all the things we have been working on in preseason, and that was really good to see. We have to communicate well, we have to pass well and then get the ball up front to our hitters.”
The Mounties used 24 service aces to make things tough from the start for the Falcons, who were also playing their first match of the season.
Regan Remley and Dara Watson each had seven, while Mallory Mason and Chelsea Veatch had five each,
“I was impressed with our serving,” Berry said. “We want to be aggressive in that area - but we want to be at least 80 percent with our serves. We limited our service errors and that helped everything else.”
“You could tell it was our first match,” North Vermillion coach Hilary Gibson said. “We got off to a slow start, but I thought we had put things together in the second set. Then that fell apart and we could never get started in the third set. You could tell that Southmont has done a lot of offseason work. Coach Berry and her staff have put in the time. They have some good outside hitters.”
The first set saw the Mounties score the first five points, and then lead 11-3, but they just couldn’t shake the visitors off, as they traded short scoring runs to win by six
The second set had the Falcons up 14-12, but following a timeout, the Mounties went on a 13-2 run to put the set away.
“Our varsity experience showed,” Berry said of the second-set comeback and win. “We didn’t get rattled, we put our early mistakes behind us with some short-term memory, and everyone just did their jobs.”
The third set was never in doubt, as the home squad cruised to the win.
“It was a good opening-night win,” Berry added. Dara (Watson) was on fire, Chelsea (Veatch) had some good hits and really had some good back line plays. Mallory (Mason) did a good job setting, in addition to the other roles she has to fill. I’m just pleased with everyone and how they played tonight.”
Watson led the Mounties with 10 kills, followed by Veatch with six and Remley with five.
Mason finished with 17 assists, and Taylor Anderson led the team with nine digs, followed by Veatch with four.
South heads into conference action Thursday as they travel to Frankfort.
“It’s the same as tonight,” Berry said. “We have to communicate well, eliminate mistakes and then not let any mistakes get to us.”
North Vermillion is idle until Monday when they open their home schedule with Attica. They will play both Crawfordsville (Sept. 6) and North Montgomery (Sept 26) later in the season.
The Mounties won the jv match 2-1.
