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Mounties edge out Cougars in five sets
BAINBRIDGE – In an early look at IHSAA Volleyball Class 2A Sectional No. 44, Southmont and North Putnam battled it out over five sets Monday night.
After dropping sets two and three, the Mounties buckled down in set four and won a nailbiter it set five to claim a 25-20, 19-25, 22-25, 25-13, 15-13 win over the Cougars.
“We were still figuring out (Southmont) in the first set but went out and won the seconds set before dominating the start of the third set,” North Putnam head coach Jenny Heron said. “We started to let them back in and in set four, we weren’t all the way there point 1-15 before finally digging in and starting to get some momentum.
“They got off to a fast to the fifth set and we came back but sometimes it ends like. We didn’t lose the game in the last two points but it definitely stings.
“We know the things we need to fix,” Heron added. “It has nothing to with ability, just to fix our mindset a little bit and we’ll be right back at it.”
With the first two sets swapped evenly, set three looked bleak early for the visitors, who trailed by eight points on several occasions early on, including at 17-9, the point where Southmont (3-2) began to chip away at the lead.
The Mounties cut the lead in half at 18-14 before giving back two points before scoring eight of the next 11 points to cut the gap to one at 23-22 off a Kalli Todd block.
North Putnam (5-3) would hang on to secure the last two points off an errant attack from the visitors and a Saylor Carrell kill but the momentum had swung to the Mountie half of the floor.
“Southmont is a scrappy team and will be a tough team in the sectional but we just have to fix our mistakes and understand what happened here tonight was our errors that happened here and there that accumulated at the end,” Heron said about the way the third set ended.
Despite an even start to the fourth set, the visitors soon plowed ahead, turning what was a 7-6 lead into a 24-11 gap behind a strong service game from Regan Remley and net play from Dara Watson.
Tying the match at 2-2, Southmont received the first set of the final set and shot out 3-0 before nerves began to jangle and mistakes came flying in.
The Cougars nosed ahead at 9-8 off a Carrell kill and 10-9 after a Phoebe Fouts block before the Mounties pulled back ahead at 13-11 off a Watson ace.
Kills from Ashleigh Riley tied the final set at 13-13 but the hosts broke on the final two points as Southmont walked out with the win.
North Putnam opens WIC play Thursday at home with Owen Valley, a match where Herron said some minor fixes on defense would help the performance as a whole.”
“We have to continue working on our defense,” Herron said. “We have a strong offense as there are some communication errors we need to continue to work on.
“The girls know that; they come in and every day and work hard. There’s not a day of practice where we don’t get better and they all come in every day and bust it.”