NEW MARKET - Southmont turned the duties over to their seniors to lead the way to a 3-0 volleyball win over North Montgomery.
The Mounties move to 5-4 on the season and 2-0 in the Sagamore Conference with the win.
They tallied 22 aces to set the pace.
“All six seniors really stepped up for us tonight,” South coach Erin Barry said. “We had a few nerves in the first set, but the seniors helped get us settled down.
We also started getting some points off our serves.”
The aces led to points in bunches, especially in the first two sets.
The Chargers, who fall to 0-7 overall and 0-3 in the conference, matched the home squad point for point early, and even had a 12-9 lead.
“We were playing with some confidence,” Chargers coach Taylor Dyson said of her team. “We were communicating well.”
That three-point North lead was a Southmont 17-12 lead when Regan Remley finished her service run. The senior four of her game-best seven aces in that stretch.
With the cushion, the Mounties went point-for-point until the end, when they scored the last four points to win 25-18.
The second set the best of times and the worst of times, depending on your point of view, as South just hit the accelerator to win 25-5.
Dara Watson had a service streak of 6-0, and Brady Spencer added an 8-0 run.
“It was a fun atmosphere and a fun environment,” Barry said, probably referring to the goodly number of student fans from both schools who were enjoying North-South week.
The third set saw the Chargers jump out to an 8-2 lead, North senior Mckenzie Schroeder had four points in the stretch on two blocks and two kills. She would finish the night with six kills and five blocks, leading North in both categories.
The Mounties got five points to narrow the lead, and then the match was tied several times through the teens. South took advantage of some out-of-bounds hits to take the lead, and then the win, finishing the match with a 25-21 win.
“We hung in there,” Barry said, “from getting started at first to the third, when things got a little messy. We kept our composure, and cheered each other on. We stayed strong. Overall, we played good, clean volleyball. We did the things we do well in practice. We had very few hitting errors, and we served aggressively. It was our first three-set win of the season, and it was a county rivalry game. Those are always fun to play in and especially fun to win.”
Tayler Anderson had five aces and 10 digs, while Spencer finished with five aces. Chelsea Veatch had six kills, as did Remley, who also had eight digs. Dara Watson rounded out the senior stats with five kills.
Sophomore setter Mallory Mason finished with 17 assists.
“We are proving to ourselves that we can compete,” Dyson said. We’ve been working on all those little things. We set up that competition in practice, and we are improving as we make adjustments. I really like the leadership we are starting to see from some of the younger players as well.”
Sophomore Piper Ramey led her North squad with 16 assists, while Ella Fritzen had four blocks and Trista Thomas had four digs.
Freshman Ayden Braun had four digs before leaving the game with concussion-like symptoms. “Avery Gayler came in for Ayden,” Dyson said, “and she did a really good job. We are just going to keep working hard and getting after it.”
Both teams are quickly back in action.
North travels to Riverton Parke tonight, while the Mounties head to Cascade Thursday.
Southmont won both the “C” match and the JV match 2-0.
