NEW MARKET — It’s been a rough start to the season for the Southmont volleyball team. The Mounties came into Thursday’s nights game against Fountain Central on an eight-game losing streak after winning their season opener. That streak came to an end quickly as Southmont defeated the Mustangs 3-0 (25-21, 25-11, 25-18) for the second win of the season.
“We needed this win tonight,” Southmont co-head coach Casey Phillips said. “The best part about it was it was a complete team win. Our schedule to begin this season has been hard, so tonight was good for us.”
“They really worked well together and we think this will be a big confidence booster going forward.” Fellow co-head coach Erin Phillips added.
The Mounties (2-8, 0-3 SAC) totaled 11 aces in the win. Mallory Mason led the way with 5, Taylor Anderson added in four more, and Cheyenne Shaw had two. Chelsea Veatch had ten kills, six digs, and six assists. Anderson added in 16 digs while Regan Remley added in eight digs, eight kills, and two blocks.
“We changed thins up a little bit defensively tonight and it worked,” Phillips said. “We want them to have fun first and foremost and tonight was fun to watch because they brought it all together.”
“We need to continue to build some momentum off this,” Berry added. “If we can keep this going and add a few more wins under our belt. We want to be playing our best come sectional time and the ladder part of the season.”
For the Mustangs (2-10, 0-3 WRC), a rough start to the season continued. A combination of injuries and quarantines haven’t allowed them to play with a team at full strength the entire season according to coach Alyssa Larson. Despite all the adversity what the result may look like, Larson and the Mustangs accomplished one of their goals against the Mounties.
“We wanted to make them work for every single point and I think we managed to do that tonight,” Larson said. We expected there to be long points there were a lot of those. They (Southmont) had to get a good swing or kill to score and they were just able to do that more than we were.”
Lillie Fishero had 18 assists to go along with four kills for the Mustangs. Defensively Jerzi Hershberger had 14 digs, Hayleigh Elkins added in nine, and both Rylee Simko and Chole Golia ended with eight. Larson talked about the differences between how her team competed so well in the first, then slowed down in the second set.
“I think it’s hard to play well in the second set sometimes after you play so well and still lose,” she said. “We fell off a little mentally and they blocked us at the net a few times."
