Cougars finish county tournament prep with sweep of Wolves

The depth and overall game of the North Putnam Cougar volleyball team was evident as they defeated the visiting Parke Heritage Wolves 25-16, 25-17, 25-19 to win in three sets. The Cougars aggressively stalked the net and even more so attacked the Wolves from service line. The Cougars posted 15 aces on the night and only trailed 2-1 in the first set as their only deficit of the match.

The victory improved North to 10-3 on the season and Parke Heritage dropped to 3-9. Only the third set saw the Wolves threaten late in the game. The Cougars maintained solid leads in the two first sets and turned a 19-19 tie in the third to the 25-19 win.

“We have nine games in the next two weeks and I think we are in a good place right now both mentally and physically,” North Putnam head coach Jenny Heron said.

The Cougars broke open a tight first set with an 8-0 run turning a 5-5 score into a 13-5 lead. Ashleigh Riley had three aces in that stretch and Phoebe Fouts was active in the middle of the net with a pair of kills. The Wolves rallied a little late in the game closing the gap to 21-15, but a pair Riley kills ended up putting the game away at 25-16.

“We are a very aggressive team and sometimes that doesn’t weigh on the scoreboard, but we serve aggressive and try and get teams out of their system,” Heron said as her Cougars controlled the service line.

North dominated from the start in the second set. The Cougars jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead behind Mack Mason’s serving aces and more kills from Riley and Fouts. The Cougars would extend the lead to 13-2 and 19-5 before the Wolves would regroup a little. Parke Heritage managed to cut the lead to 23-16, but Riley would add two more kills to finish the set at 25-17 and a 2-0 lead in the match.

“Phoebe was a monster tonight. She had one kill that I went ‘whoa, I didn’t even see it hit the ground,’” Heron said of Fouts.

Parke Heritage was not ready to go home as it battled the hosts tough in the third set. No more than three points separated the teams until the Cougars extended a lead to 14-9 on a Lexi Daigle ace. North could not put the game away though. The Wolves went on a 7-2 run to knot the score at 19-19, but then Riley took over the match. The senior had a kill to put the Cougars back ahead and then scored four aces in the final six points to put the victory in Cougar scorebook at 25-19.

“Ashleigh really came through with four or five of those final points. It was great team win she passed the ball well and we got it back to her. Our passing was really good tonight,” Heron said.