Mt. Vernon’s Ava Whitmore had 28 assists in Wednesday’s match with Noblesville. (Tom Russo | Daily Reporter)
FORTVILLE — The Mt. Vernon girls volleyball team entered the season with a young team, but one that was still a more experienced group than a season ago.
Even in a loss, that showed at times as the Marauders (1-2) fell to Noblesville (2-0) Wednesday night in five sets, 3-2.
The Millers came into the night just outside the top 10 in the Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association rankings and were coming off of a win against another near top 10 team, North Central, in four sets.
The Marauders made Noblesville go the distance, and forced them to come from behind for the hard-fought win.
“Our schedule is really hard. We saw Cathedral on Monday and now Noblesville,” Mt. Vernon head coach Samantha Grider said. “I think the jump from Monday to (Wednesday) was huge for us. Being able to take them five sets, that just shows how much growth and potential we have for the rest of the season.”
It took a 27-25 win in the opener and fourth and fifth set victories for the Millers to win.
After a back-and-forth opening set, the Marauders responded with wins in the next two.
In Set 2, Mt. Vernon fell behind 4-1 but fought back to grab a 10-7 lead behind a pair of Aubry Dowling aces and a two Easton Wampler kills.
After falling behind 17-14, the Marauders made their push, taking 10 of the next 13 points for an eventual 25-22 win. A Sierra Holverson kill was the deciding point for Mt. Vernon.
Set 3 was a near repeat of Set 2.
After trailing, 17-13, and 19-15, the Marauders made a late push once again to take another 25-22 win.
At 19-15, senior Sophia Damer reeled off three straight kills, all assisted by junior setter Ava Whitmore.
Two more kills from Damer, another Wampler kill, and an Avery Delello ace gave the Marauders a 24-22 lead before Whitmore closed things out with a kill on a ball she pushed to the back right corner, catching the Millers off guard.
“It’s all mental. We talk about the mental game a lot, and about not digging those holes as much. Hopefully that will happen less as the season goes on. We’d rather be on top than playing the catch-up game,” Grider said. “I’m very proud of them for digging themselves out of some of those tonight, though.”
In the final two sets, some of the Mt. Vernon youth began to show, and Noblesville took advantage and showed why they are ranked near the top teams in Class 4A.
Three kills and two aces from Noblesville senior Aubrey Stitcher in the fourth fueled the Millers to the most lopsided win of the night for either team, 25-15.
After Mt. Vernon tied things at 4-4, Noblesville reeled off the next six points, and this time the Marauders weren’t able to find a response.
In Set 5, the Millers used another 6-0 run to grab the decisive set 15-8.
“We were just playing frantic and nervous,” Grider said. “We’re still pretty young and have a lot of sophomores out on the floor.”
Unofficially, Wampler and Damer led the Marauders with 11 kills each. Whitmore led the Marauders with 28 assists.
Mt. Vernon is back in action tonight at Heritage Christian at 7:30 p.m.
