NEW MARKET — “A win is a win.” That was the first sentence echoed by Southmont volleyball coach Erin Barry on Thursday after the Mounties were able to defeat Fountain Central in a very contested four set battle 29-27, 23-25, 25-16, 25-23.
The win for Southmont snaps a five game losing streak for the Mounties as they improve to 4-9 on the season.
The opening set saw the Mounties up 23-20 but the Mustangs never backed down and even were up 24-23 after scoring four straight and needing a single point to win. Down once again at 27-26, South rallied to score the final three to bring home the thrilling first set. In set two FC continued to battle the Mounties and give them everything they had. South scored eight straight to go up 16-10 and had control. But slowly FC clawed their way back and eventually tied it at 22-22 before evening things up at 1-1.
Set three was controlled by the Mounties for the most part. 10 straight points were scored as South was in full control with a 19-8 lead. It took a little longer after that for South to put them away but the Mounties were able to do just that to go up 2-1. In set four, once again South was in control leading 19-13, but as they did all match FC rallied to score six straight to even the score. Even up 24-20 South had to fight for their lived to win the decisive fourth set.
“We’ll take it because we just wanted to end this losing streak,” Barry said of the hard fought win. “We hope we can continue this into the next few games.”
There were plenty of stats of note for the Mounties in the four-set thriller. South takes pride in their serving and their were many aces served on the night. Mallory Mason led the way with six, Kendall Priebe had four of her own with Cheyenne Shaw also having three. Shaw added eight kills with freshman Layla Gomez recording six. Defensively Mason added 23 digs with Catie Himes having 14 and Jenna Grino 11 on the night. Mason rounded out her fantastic even with 29 assists.
“It’s nice to know that these girls already have matches this season where they’ve played in close sets left and right,” Barry said. “That court awareness and experience you really can’t replicate in practice. The more chances we get to do that against opponents in live action, the better we’re going to be long term.”
The first half of the season has been one filled playing tough competition for the Mounties. 8 of their 13 opponents have a winning record. The schedule lessens up in the final 3-4 weeks and that’s something that Barry has continued to preach to her team that there’s still plenty of season left and a lot of chances for her team to start racking up wins.
“While they’re are a lot of winnable games on our schedule, we know that they won’t be easy,” she said. “The girls will have to continue to work and they’ve proven they can do that. We just have to keep going one match at a time.”
The Mounties will have a three-game week next week beginning on Monday with a trip to Cloverdale. Tuesday they’ll be back at home for SAC contest vs Lebanon before hitting the road again on Thursday for a game at Attica.
