BAINBRIDGE – In an early look at IHSAA Volleyball Class 2A Sectional No. 44, Southmont and North Putnam battled it out over five sets Monday night.
After dropping sets two and three, the Mounties buckled down in set four and won a nailbiter it set five to claim a 25-20, 19-25, 22-25, 25-13, 15-13 win.
“The girls stuck with it, didn’t give up, believed in themselves, their abilities and what they’ve been doing in practice,” Southmont head coach Erin Berry said. “I’m very proud of how they stuck with it because they could have given up on that fourth set.”
With the first two sets swapped evenly, set three looked bleak early for the visitors, who trailed by eight points on several occasions early on, including at 17-9, the point where Southmont began to chip away at the lead.
The Mounties cut the lead in half at 18-14 before giving back two points before scoring eight of the next 11 points to cut the gap to one at 23-22 off a Kalli Todd block.
North Putnam would hang on to secure the last two points but the momentum had swung to the Mountie half of the floor,
Despite an even start to the fourth set, the visitors soon plowed ahead, turning what was a 7-6 lead into a 24-11 gap behind a strong service game from Regan Remley and net play from Dara Watson.
“We talked in-between sets and said we need to go back to doing what we do best,” Berry said about the penultimate set. “(North Putnam) is a good, scrappy team with good hitters and we couldn’t let them take us out of system but stay in it as much as we could.”
Tying the match at 2-2, Southmont received the first set of the final set and shot out 3-0 before nerves began to jangle and mistakes came flying in.
The Cougars nosed ahead at 0-8 and 10-0 before the Mounties pulled back ahead at 13-11 off a Watson ace.
Kills from Ashleigh Riley tied the final set at 13-13 but the hosts broke on the final two points as Southmont walked out with the win.
“It was a close one but the girls hung in and got it done,” Berry said.
Southmont returns to Putnam County tonight when they take on Greencastle.
