GREENCASTLE — Southmont has its eyes on a sectional title and knows it has the talent to do just that. Tuesday evening the Mounties began their three-game journey towards that sectional trophy as they opened up the Class 2A Sectional 44 at Greencastle by taking on Cloverdale. With already a 3-0 sweep of the Clovers under their belt back on Sep. 12, Tuesday would yield the same result with the Mounties picking up a sectional opening 3-0 sweep (25-9, 25-13, 25-10) over the Clovers.
“Tonight was a very good start for what we want to continue into Saturday,” Mountie coach Erin Barry said. “Our girls really just played their style of volleyball tonight and eliminated the errors. We have a system that when we play that way we know how, it usually bodes very well for us. They came out how I expected them to for the most part.”
Dara Watson led the way for the Mounties in the kill department tallying 11 total in the sectional win. Chelsea Veatch added nine of her own with Regan Remley notching eight, DeLorean Mason six and Cheyenne Shaw recorded three. Mallory Mason was her typical self in setting up the offense all night long as she ended the sweep with 34 assists. Tayler Anderson led the way on defense with 12 digs while Veatch added 10. The Mounties also had plenty of aces in the match with Mallory Mason ending with five, Remley three, Veatch four, and Anderson with four.
“Cloverdale is a scrappy team and we saw the first time we played them,” Barry said of their opponent. Their setter (Lillie Jones) seemed to be everywhere on the court doing the best that she could to keep them in it. One of our goals though is to serve aggresively and we did a good job of that tonight. We also want to receive the other teams serve the best we can. Both of those things are big goals for us every match.”
The Mounties with the win improve to 13-14 on the season. They advance to the semi-finals on Saturday afternoon where they will take on Riverton Parke (20-8) back at Greencastle. If the Mounties are able to defeat the Panthers, they would play for a sectional title Saturday evening at 6 pm. Barry noted how the focus of her team will have to still be at maximum level if they want to achieve their ultimate goal of bringing home a trophy.
“Our message to them really isn’t going to change,” Barry said of what lies ahead on Saturday. “It simply comes down to eliminating our mistakes, serving well, communicating and playing within our system. I want the feeling to be the same for them on Saturday and us coaches will keep telling them the same message. It starts with Riverton Parke, then hopefully we can play in the evening and play for a championship.”
Southmont will be lookiing to win its second sectional title (2019) in the last the last four seasons on Saturday.
