No. 1 Mount Vernon really didn’t want to give up a set to No. 11 Solon on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
The Mustangs pushed the sweep over the finish line, taking down the Spartans 25-11, 25-16, 28-26.
“I think in rivalry matches, the faster you can win and get off the court, the better,” Mount Vernon Coach Maggie Willems said. “I didn’t want the gym to get any more excited. Gritting it out in set three was really important.”
Solon junior Kiley Devery hit back-to- back aces to put the Spartans up, 25-24, in the third set. Mount Vernon responded with a pair of kills from Sydney Maue. Following a kill by Solon junior Jozie Lahr, senior Paige Shurbon delivered with a kill, and the Mustangs closed the set and match on a Spartan passing mistake.
“It was good,” senior setter Sydney Huber said. “We’ve got to learn to play with pressure. They are a really good team. So, it was fun.”
The night wasn’t all fun. Defending 3A Player of the Year Chloe Meester rolled her ankle on a stray volleyball during pregame warmups, and was limping a bit to start the match. “We didn’t know if she’d be able to go,” Willems said. “To her credit, she gutted it out. She was not going to miss a chance to play against Solon.”
And if you’ve got a Chloe Meester, it is a pretty good idea to remind the other team what they are facing. Chloe Meester scored the first four points for the Mustangs, three on kills and one on a block. “She usually gets momentum going our way,” Willems said. “I think just putting Chloe into the back of the mind of anybody’s defense is not a bad way to start a match.”
Hobbling around the court at times, Meester still finished with a match-best 15 kills. Maue added 13 kills, junior Cali Whitaker had 10 kills and Paige Schurbon had eight kills.
Huber has so many options.
“Sydney Maue was a great addition and is so fun to play with,” Huber said. “Everyone can get kills. That’s the most fun.
“We have so many great hitters, we can mix up so much stuff.” Whitaker, a junior, provides an interesting option at the net. She doesn’t rattle the floorboards with her kills like future Division I players Meester and Maue, but knows where the open spots are.“Cali has improved so much from last year to this year,” Willems said. “She’s confident and her IQ is high.”
“It has been a big step up,” Whitaker said. “You just have to believe that your teammates trust you. They help you have the confidence and keep the game fun.” As for Chloe Meester, she got a rare weekend off to rest her ankle. The top- ranked Mustangs (14-2) played Tuesday, Sept. 17, in an outdoor match at No. 9 West Delaware, and next head to the Red Oak Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 21.
“Chloe is always impressive,” Whitaker said. “But we always talk about having grit as a team. She really showed us how. She trusted we’d help her out when her ankle was hurting.”