NEW MARKET - It was one scoring streak in each set that spelled the difference for Southmont’s volleyball team in a 3-0 Sagamore Conference loss to Lebanon.
The Mounties fell 19-25, 20-25, 18-25 to the Tigers, and move to 5-10 on the season and 1-4 in the conference.
The Tigers are now 6-11 for the season and move to 3-1 in the Sagamore, with their only loss to league-leading Tri-West.
Trailing by only one point late in the first, it was a 6-1 Lebanon run that finished the set.
The visitors had an 8-0 run midway through the second that South couldn’t recover from and it was a 7-0 Tigers start to the third set that spelled the difference.
“You can’t dig that big of a hole, especially against a team that can score like they can,” Mounties coach Erin Barry said. “Overall, I’m thrilled with the way we played. We attacked the net well, we communicated really well, served well for the most part and our hustle was good from start to finish. We played well as a team – we just lost to a team that played well tonight.”
Lebanon was able to speed up the pace of play to put pressure on the Mounties.
“We sped the game up after a bit of a slow start,” Lebanon coach Emily Vanatsky said. “We had several girls play well tonight, and we were able to take care of business.”
The Tigers had two bigs, senior Sydnie Starkey. and freshman Kinley Young, that were the tall thorns in the side of the home team.
Starkey finished with six kills and six digs, had three aces in the third-set start, and added a couple blocks.
Young had seven kills, taking her over 100 for the season, as the Tigers finished with 27 kills overall. Avery Buckler led her team with eight.
The Mounties just couldn’t match the other team kill for kill.
Kenzie Douglas had six to lead South, followed by Catie Himes with five, which moves the junior to 70 kills for the season.
Himes was also team-high with 21 digs. DeLorean Mason had 16, Jenna Grino had 13, and Kendall Priebe added nine, a team total that caught the coaches attention.
DeLorean Mason had 16 assists, Mallory Mason had a dozen helpers, and Layla Gomez had three blocks.
“We had that stretch a couple weeks back that really took a toll.” Barry said. “We have re-focused, and it showed tonight. As I mentioned, there were a lot of things we did well tonight. You never want to lose, but we played well in that loss.”
The Tigers, still in the hunt for a top spot in the conference, saw junior setter Albea hit 200 assists on the season with her team-best 16.
“We mixed up who we got the ball to,” Vanatsky said. “That makes us more effective.”
The Tigers have a couple days off, as they travel to Zionsville next Tuesday and then get back in conference action at Danville on Sept 21.
The Mounties are at Attica Thursday and have a big week coming up, with road matches at Crawfordsville next Tuesday and Danville Wednesday.
