Every week there’s another ranked WaMaC team taking on top-ranked Mount Vernon, hoping to knock the queens off the throne.

Last Tuesday, Sept. 24, it was then-No. 9 Center Point-Urbana. The Stormin’ Pointers were swept 25-14, 25-19, 25-23, and fell out of the Class 3A Top 15 a few days later.

“I think we need to count ourselves lucky with our record in the WaMaC East,” Mount Vernon coach Maggie Willems said. “It is as tough as it gets. We have a whole heck of a lot of work ahead of us, too. But we’re up to the task, too.”

Mount Vernon already has conference wins over No. 11 Solon and No. 3 West Delaware. Still to come is a match against No. 7 (4A) Marion.

“It is really fun,” senior Chloe Meester said. “A lot of people come to these games, and it is just a fun environment in here.”

CPU (11-9) provided a different style for the Mustangs (25-3) to battle against. The Stormin’ Pointers have a tough defense that doesn’t let a lot of attacks hit the court.

“They have a great libero,” senior Paige Schurbon said. “And they’ve seen us play before, so they ere waiting on us quite a bit.”

And having an attack that normally scores a point get dug up can be frustrating.

“Defensively, they give a lot of good effort and they are really scrappy,” Meester said. “Usually the ball does down, then it is not going down and you’ve got to keep playing.”

It looked like CPU might force a fourth game when it went on a 6-1 run late in the third set and tied it up 23-23.

But Meester came up with a haymaker kill to stop the CPU run, then tipped one through the defense to end the set and match.

“I didn’t want it to be super close at the end, and it got super close,” Meester said. “I did not want it go past 25. That was not happening.”

The previous week, Mount Vernon had to rally after being down 2-0 in sets against the Hawks.

“We had a reverse sweep against a team and we’re acutely aware that can happen to us, too,” Willems said.

Meester had 14 kills. Senior Sydney Maue added 10 kills, Schurbon had eight, junior Cali Whitaker had five and sophomore Sophia Meester had four. Senior Sydney Huber had 35 assists.

Meester said she was proud of the way Maue played against her former teammates.

“I told her she just has to go out there and do what she does,” Meester said.

Mount Vernon attacked at a .341 efficiency while CPU only had a .050 efficiency. The Mustangs were swinging hard, and the Stormin’ Pointers were a little more dink and dunk.

“They did a lot of control plays,” Schurbon said. “Compared to our style, it was a lot different.

“Lot of tipping to off blockers. They made sure everyone wasn’t sitting on their heels on defense.”

Jackson led the team in digs with 14. Maue and Meester each had nine digs.

The Mustangs were sharp serving, with 13 aces over three sets.

Senior Eryn Jackson and Meester paced the serving effort with four aces each.

“Our serve was good,” Willems said. “We were really able to ring up some aces against them. And they are really good serve receive team.”

The Mustangs hosted four teams – including three ranked 5A teams — in their Fall Classic on Saturday, Sept. 28.

Mount Vernon lost its first match to an Iowa team. No. 2 (5A) Pleasant Valley won 21-18, 21-18.

The Mustangs beat No. 9 (5A) Iowa City High 21-15, 21-10; No. 10 (5A) Iowa City Liberty 21-14, 21-16; and No. 6 (2A) Dike-New Hartford 21-16, 21-17.

This week Mount Vernon travels to Independence on Tuesday, Oct. 1, and plays in the Bobcat Invitational at Western Dubuque on Saturday, Oct. 5.