Mt. Vernon’s Olivia Johnson and Jaycee Jones defend at the net against Noblesville.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter File Photo
PENDLETON — Although Thursday night’s outcome pushed Mt. Vernon to 7-3 on the season and 1-0 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference, the team, and head coach Samantha Grider, are still searching for more.
The Marauders traveled to Pendleton and defeated Pendleton Heights 3-1 to open up conference play, but were still not fully satisfied with the result.
Something Grider echoed after a five-set loss to Noblesville earlier in the season, popped up once again – needing to put together a full clean match.
“It’s always good to win the first conference game and be on top in that aspect,” Grider said. “I think we can play cleaner volleyball though.”
A lull late in Set 1 allowed the Arabians to storm back and make things interesting, after pulling away late in Set 2, the Marauders stumbled in Set 3, and in the final set, Mt. Vernon let a big early lead slip away once again.
The win was the Marauders third in three days after sweeping Guerin Catholic on Tuesday and North Central on Wednesday. It’s clean matches like those, that Grider is searching for as the team continues on with conference play.
“I hope this week was a confidence boost, but again we’ve got to play cleaner if we want to win some more conference games,” Grider said.
Ahead late in Set 1, the Marauders let a 20-14 lead disappear. Pendleton Heights reeled off six straight points to tie things at 20 before Mt. Vernon snapped back into their typical play and took the final five points for the 25-20 win.
An Olivia Johnson block kickstarted the run, Jaycee Jones added a kill and Sierra Holverson had an ace to go along with two attacking errors by the Arabians down the stretch.
“That set was a really important one,” Grider said. “If we don’t win that one, the rest of the match probably goes differently.”
In Set 2, the Marauders played their cleanest set from start to finish.
After a back-and-forth start, Mt. Vernon scored five straight points to pull away 20-15 before eventually winning the set 25-19.
Holverson started the late run with a kill and an ace before Jones took over.
Over the final five points, Jones had three kills. In the set she had six, and, on the night, had a team-high 13.
“She’s been playing phenomenal,” Grider said. “We just have to get her confidence level up a little bit now.”
Alivia Morgan closed out the second set victory with her third kill of the set.
The lone set that Pendleton Heights won was controlled by the Marauders most of the way, but late miscues kept them from the sweep.
A Jones kill and Avery Delello ace gave Mt. Vernon their biggest lead of the set 13-9 and they remained ahead until a kill by Pendleton Heights’ Gianna Kanitz tied things at 16.
After an Ava Zech kill put the Arabians in front, Holverson answered with a kill, but from there, Pendleton Heights took full control.
They led the rest of the way and took the 25-21 win with kills from Kaycie Warfel and Maggie Lukens in the closing points.
“I think we just lose concentration at times,” Grider said. “We just stop focusing on what we need to do and then we have some spazzy moments where we don’t even know what we’re doing.”
The Marauders bounced back with a 25-20 win to seal the victory in a set in which they trailed just once.
A Warfel kill to make things 13-12 in favor of the Arabians was the only lead they held in the set and capped off a big run.
Mt. Vernon jumped out to an 8-2 lead behind points from four different players. Holverson started the set with an ace and a kill, Jones had a kill over the run, Morgan had a kill and a block and Ava Whitmore capped off the stretch with an ace.
Eleven of the next 15 points went to Pendleton Heights, and for a moment it seemed to be even more.
Back-to-back Arabians kills that would have put them ahead 15-12 were overturned and the points were given to Mt. Vernon due to violations.
That momentum was all they needed to close out the win.
Johnson followed up those points with a kill, Morgan had a pair of kills down the stretch, a Jones kill pushed the lead even further and a Vizma Erkmanis ace sealed the victory.
Mt. Vernon’s next match is Tuesday at 7 p.m. on the road at Southport.
