NOBLESVILLE — Early in the season, the Mt. Vernon volleyball team is learning a lot about itself.
It’s discovering how to fight from behind, it’s discovering how to deal with heartbreaking losses, and most importantly, it’s learning quickly what type of team it wants to be.
“This team’s resilient,” head coach Samantha Grider said. “This team has all the potential in the world, we just have to apply it to a clean match.”
Just three games into the season, the Marauders have already played in two matches that have had a postseason-type of energy.
On Monday, they took the final three sets to come from behind and beat Cathedral 3-2.
Wednesday, they were on the other end of a five-set thriller.
On the road, the Marauders (2-1) took two of the first three sets but lost the last two to fall to Noblesville (2-0) 3-2 by scores of 19-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, and 15-13.
“I think it’s good for us down the road with our conference competition being tough,” Grider said. “These five-setters against really good non-conference teams do us well.”
In the deciding set, following junior Leah Kay’s first kill of the night, the Marauders had a 13-12 advantage and the momentum. They were eyeing their second five-set win in three days, but the Millers had different plans.
A Lauren Flynn kill tied it up, an attacking error put the Marauders behind, and an Ashlynn Turner block sealed the Mt. Vernon loss.
On the way to the 15 points needed for the fifth-set win, the teams were tied at 10 different points.
The back-and-forth battle was something that had been going on all night long.
To win Set 1, the Marauders stormed back from a 10-4 deficit.
Ahead 4-2, Mt. Vernon dropped eight straight points fueled by three aces by Noblesville’s Chloe Macias.
The deficit remained until down 13-9, the Marauders made a run of their own, reeling off four straight points to tie things back up.
The teams traded points until Mt. Vernon pulled away late and closed out the Set 1 win with a Sierra Holverson kill.
Noblesville controlled the majority of Set 2, but the Marauders bounced back with another hard-fought win in Set 3.
The two teams were tied at 8-8, 13-13, 17-17 and eventually 23-23 before back-to-back Mt. Vernon kills put them ahead two sets to one.
Jaycee Jones had the kill on the 24th point and Holverson had the set-winning kill once again.
“When we’re in system we’re unstoppable,” Grider said. “Our middle’s being able to run and leave that outside open is huge for us.”
A late Noblesville run in the fourth tied the match and forced the fifth set.
Knotted up at 17-17, the Millers reeled off the next five points with three kills and a pair of aces by Maggie Hall.
Kills by Jones and Olivia Johnson brought the Marauders back within three, 22-19, but a block and kill by Macias helped the Millers close it out.
Macias was the catalyst for the Noblesville comeback. In Set 4, she scored nine of the Millers 25 points, recording five kills and four blocks. On the night, she had seven kills, five blocks and five aces.
The Marauders were led on the attack by Holverson and Jones unofficially with 20 and 16 kills, respectively.
Johnson had five kills and four blocks, junior Alivia Morgan had five kills and three blocks and Vizma Erkmanis had three aces.
Ava Whitmore led the team with 36 assists.
Mt. Vernon faces Heritage Christian Thursday at 7 p.m. in its home opener.
