(Editor's Note: The article in the Oct. 21 issue left out the word conference. We apologize for the error.)
It’s been a busy October full of matches for the Mountain Grove Lady Panthers volleyball team.
One big highlight was their first conference match victory of the season, when they traveled to Salem and left with a 3-2 victory over the Lady Tigers.
In that match-up, Mountain Grove won game one, 25-21, before dropping two straight games, 25-22 and 25-20. They rallied to win the next game, 25-20, before sealing the win late with a game five victory, 15-12.
“This was probably the best I’ve seen Salem play all year,” said Mountain Grove head coach Ashley Martin.
“They stayed scrappy and played with a lot of grit. I was very proud of how we competed each set and never let them gain point runs. All five sets were tightly matched as both teams battled every point.”
They also had a close match with Houston, where they lost three games.
After losing game one, 25-17, they won game two, 26-24.
Unfortunately, they lost the final two games, 25-9 and 25-21.
“This game was a roller coaster,” Martin said. “We had moments where we played well, but we were so inconsistent, there was no way we could pull off the win. We would play well for a few points and quit playing for several points. Two of our defensive players collided during the second set and ended up with concussions, so we had to readjust our lineup and make the best of it.”
In other matches, one loss came against Marshfield. The scores were 25-18, 25-18 and 25-22.
“So proud of the way we pulled together and competed against this Marshfield team,” Martin noted.
“Marshfield has a fantastic program, very successful and they’ve played a lot of top notch teams this season. We held our ground and made them earn every set. I felt like this was the first game all season that we actually played as one unit, with one goal and were good teammates to each other. We had fun while playing, we smiled on the court, we encouraged one another and we played as a team.”
Against Winona, the Lady Panthers lost 25-16, 25-22 and 25-14.
Last Thursday at home, Mountain Grove won the first game against a 19-win Liberty (Mountain View) team, 25-22. Unfortunately, the Lady Eagles rallied to win the final three games, 25-14, 25-19 and 25-20.
“Unbelievably proud of the way we played this entire game,” Martin said.
“Mountain View is a great team. They’re smart, athletic and experienced. We showed up to battle from point one of the first set. We took the first set from them and you could clearly tell they didn’t expect us to play them that well…We hustled after every ball, we competed every touch and I was extremely proud of how we played.”
The Lady Panthers are the No. 5 seed in the Class 3, District 10 tournament that they will host beginning on Monday, Oct. 26. They will battle the same Salem team they just knocked off at 4:30 p.m. With a win, they will face the No. 1 seed, Liberty (Mountain View), in the semifinals on the same day at 7:30 p.m.
If they get to the finals, it will be played at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
