It is not very often that No. 2 (3A) Mount Vernon gets to be David these days.
But Saturday, the Mustangs took on No. 1 (2A) Dike-New Hartford, regarded as the top team in Iowa, any class, a regular Goliath, at the Liberty Invitational.
Mount Vernon (18-2, 3-0) lost that titanic tussle, 21-17, 21-7. (The Mustangs’ only other loss this season was also to DNH, 25-14, 25-17, back on Sept. 2.)
“Set two looks like we fell apart,” Mount Vernon Coach Maggie Willems said. “We did not. They just took over. If you give them an inch, they don’t just take a mile, they take 10.
“We kept our composure, but they just answered everything we threw at them. Credit to them.”
It was still a pretty incredible day for the Mustangs, who beat No. 15 (5A) Iowa City Liberty (21-15, 21-12) and No. 6 (5A) Pleasant Valley (21-14, 21-12) as well as Iowa City West (21-11, 21-16).
“When you beat the 5A defending state champ (Liberty), and the runner-up (PV), you can count that as a good day,” Willems said. “We played really great competition and we played really well.
“There is no point off against teams like that. I’m really proud of our sustained focus in pressure situations.”
Mount Vernon started the week with a key WaMaC victory over No. 10 (3A) Center Point-Urbana on Tuesday, Sept. 19 at Center Point – 25-11, 25-23, 25-19.
“I am quite genuinely proud we won that in three,” Willems said. “CPU is very good. And (Chloe) Meester only had one kill in set one. The rest of our team played at a very high level.”
Meester led the attack with 16 kills. Brooke Ellyson added 11 kills, Paige Schurbon had seven and Caliana Whitaker added four. Sydney Huber had 34 assists and Meester led the team with 17 digs.
The Mustangs started this week with Senior Night match at home against Independence on Tuesday. They play in the Waverly-Shell Rock Tournament on Saturday.
Then a critical conference match on Tuesday, Oct. 3, at No. 8 (4A) Marion.
“Marion is playing really good volleyball,” Willems said. “That’s a showdown.”
Mount Vernon’s Chloe Meester (No. 16) prepares to spike the ball in play earlier this season.