FORTVILLE — Mt. Vernon’s girls volleyball team didn’t get the victory, but it did get some building blocks that could lead to a bigger more meaningful victory down the road.
At Mt. Vernon High School Thursday, the Marauders lost 3-1 to Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Yorktown, ranked No. 2 in the Class 4A Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association Z-Ratings poll and No. 23 in the nation by MaxPreps.com.
It was the first time since a 3-1 loss in the 2021 sectional championship match the Marauders have taken a set off the powerful Tigers, winners of five state titles and state runners-up as recent as 2022.
“We’re definitely going to build off of it,” Mt. Vernon head coach Samantha Grider said of hopefully getting another shot at the team that will be the heavy favorite come sectional time. “My thought is, we took a set so we’re there, just not good enough.”
Set scores for the match were 22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-17.
After 10 ties and three lead changes, the Marauders finished the first set scoring eight of the final 13 points.
Junior outside hitter Sierra Holverson had eight first-set kills — and a team-high 15 for the match. One of them broke a 17-17 tie. At 18-17, she followed with a service ace for a two-point advantage.
Down the stretch of the opening set, a number of Marauders contributed to the attack. Middle hitters Olivia Johnson and Alivia Morgan each had kills, as did outside hitter Jaycee Jones and right side hitter Hope Heniser, whose lone kill of the first set was Mt. Vernon’s 25th point.
“When we’re in system we’re really hard to beat,” Grider said. “We have such a great offense across the line. When we can run our middles we’re pretty good.
“When we’re in system and (the opposition’s) middle on the other side doesn’t know where she needs to defend, we’re pretty unstoppable.”
Morgan had 13 kills for the match. Setter Ava Whitmore dished out 38 assists to five different attackers. Jones had seven and Johnson picked up five. Heniser finished with two.
More of that came in the second set, but it came too little, too late.
Mt. Vernon dug itself a 10-1 hole, but climbed out to get within two points late in the set.
Morgan had five second-set kills, including three during a four-point stretch that began getting the Marauders back in the set. Two perfectly placed Morgan kills — tipped in nearly identical open spots — cut the Yorktown lead to 19-15 and then 20-16. She was part of a block on the next serve, with Holverson, to get the Marauders within three.
Yorktown attack errors got Mt. Vernon within two, but the Tigers were able to finish attacks and added a service ace to pull away for the final four-point win.
In the third set, Yorktown took control after the set’s seventh and final tie.
With the score 13-13, the Tigers had three straight blocks. Middle hitter Shanese Williams was part of all three, the second was a solo.
Back-to-back kills from Jones and Morgan got the Marauders within one at 18-17 and another Morgan finish cut it to 19-18, but that would be as close as they would get.
Similar to the third set, the Tigers took control after the seventh and last tie. Knotted at 12, Yorktown went on a four-point run and extended their advantage throughout the remainder of the set.
“Defensive pursuit, I feel like we kind of let up a little bit there towards the end.” Grider said of her team’s play in the final two sets. “We weren’t hitting shots as well, so their block had a big effect.”
On the defensive side, four Marauders had double digits in digs. Libero Aubry Dowling had 24. Defensive specialist Avery Delello had 18. Holverson and Whitmore had 17 and 16, respectively. Johnson was part of four blocks, including two solos.
It was the Marauders first conference loss. They are 10-4 overall and 2-1 in the HHC. Yorktown improved to 12-2 and 4-0 in league play.
The teams have met in the regular season and sectional in each of the last four years.
“I’m happy we took the first set. It’s been quite a few years since we’ve taken a set. I’m happy with that,” Grider added. “There’s definitely still more room to grow until the sectional … I think our block needs to do a better job of getting quality touches …. and we need to consistently be in system.”
Mt. Vernon returns to action Tuesday with another conference match at Greenfield-Central.
