VEEDERSBURG — Crawfordsville’s volleyball team bounced back from Tuesday’s county loss to defeat Fountain Central in three sets Thursday.
The win moves the Athenians to 11-8 on the season, with a huge Sagamore Conference week looming.
The Mustangs drop to 5-13.
“The girls were heart-broken about losing Tuesday, but we bounced back,” Crawfordsville coach Kelly Johnson said. “We played well. There have been plenty of things going on this week. We had the South match Tuesday, it is Homecoming Week so there have been distractions but the girls really focused on tonight. We came in mentally ready to play and walked in with confidence. We are learning that we have our jobs to do e very day.”
The Athenians used 16 service aces and 31 kills to dominate play in the 25-16, 25-12, 25-9 victory. They had at least a 6-0 run in each of the three sets.
Macy Bruton led the hitters, as the freshman had 15 kills. Fellow freshman Hallie Gayler and sophomore Alyx Bannon each had five.
“Crawfordsville was out to prove something tonight,” Mustangs coach Alyssa Larson said, referring to the Athenians five-set Tuesday loss to Southmont. “We did a really nice job of playing to the end of each point. We had a lot of girls on the floor diving for balls and we were aggressive when we had the chance, but we had too few chances to be aggressive.”
SERVE AND SET
Four different Athenians had an ace in the first set, and the foursome finished with 16 in three sets.
Sophomore Laine Schlicher led the way with six, followed by Bruton with five, Shea Williamson four and Abby Bannon a solo. “This is one of, if not the best serving teams I have ever coached,” Johnson remarked a week ago and reiterated Thursday. “Tuesday we were so full of adrenaline that we overshot a bunch of those serves that were all in tonight. It’s another thing that this young team learns from.”
Schlicher with 17 assists and Williamson with 10 put the ball on net for the hitters. Along with the leaders, Abby Bannon had four kills and Lauren Kellerman had two. Olivia Reed had a dozen digs and Williamson 10 that set up more offense.
C’VILLE DEFENSE
The Mustangs found the offensive looks few and far between.
They were led by Reagan Oswalt, Stella Jones and Larissa Bowers with three kills each. Marley Massey had nine digs and Kirsten Fishero added five. Lillie Fishero had six assists, followed by Trinity Lindquist with five.
“Physically we are getting better as the season progresses,” Larson said. “We are playing smarter. What we need to do next is raise our intensity level. Some of that is due to a little inexperience, but also to a lack of team successful experience.”
BIG WEEK AHEAD
The Athenians have a full schedule, starting with a Saturday tournament at Clinton Central. Logansport and Frontier will also be there.
They have three Sagamore matches next week, starting Tuesday at home against Western Boone, followed by a trip to Danville Thursday and another road trip Saturday to Tri-West. The Stars and Bruins are both undefeated in the conference as the Athenians sit 2-1.
Fountain Central has only one match next week, a road trip Tuesday to Benton Central.
