The WaMaC Volleyball Championships are always a battle. Top-ranked Mount Vernon had to navigate through some of the top teams in the state to claim the crown Thursday, Oct. 17, in Marion.
Mount Vernon didn’t drop a set. They beat No. 11 Solon 25-13, 27-25, Center Point-Urbana 25-19, 25-17, and No. 3 West Delaware 25-19, 25-13.
The Hawks eliminated No. 4 (4A) Clear Creek Amana in the other semifinal. CPU upset No. 9 (4A) Marion in the quarterfinal round.
“Any time you can win a WaMaC title, that’s a pretty big feather in your cap,” Mount Vernon coach Maggie Willems said. “Half of the field is rated. So, to come out on top is pretty exceptional, and I think it feels good.”
The championship against West Delaware was a rematch of their outdoor match Sept. 17 when the Mustangs had to rally from a 2-0 deficit to pull off the reverse sweep.
“We kind of didn’t really wake up right away (in Manchester),” senior Chloe Meester said. “We knew they run their middles fast, so our blocking coach (Dolfi Kalm) told us we had to get four blocks a set.”
Mount Vernon (39-4) had dropped its second match to an Iowa-based team the previous Saturday to Dike-New Hartford. So, at practice Tuesday, the Mustangs had a lot …. A lot … of defensive drills.
“We knew practice was not going to be pretty,” Meester said. “Coach was a little disappointed that our effort wasn’t there, and we did a lot of defensive drills. We kind of showed it off tonight.”
Willems said: “We were really working this week on our defensive pursuit. And tonight, I think our defense was just at a different level. The training we were working on really paid off.”
The aforementioned block came up big against the Hawks.
“We just came out strong and we came out ready because we had played them before,” senior Sydney Maue said. “We were just hitting on all cylinders.”
The first serve of the championship match was at 8:43 p.m. That didn’t bother the Mustangs, who played a match in Omaha this fall that ended close to midnight.
“We’re used to playing late,” Meester said.
Mount Vernon built an early 8-3 lead in the first set, getting three early kills from Maue. The Hawks closed the margin to one, 13-12, but MV responded with a Maue kill, a Paige Schurbon kill and two stuff blocks by Meester to push the margin back to five, 18-13.
The second set was even more impressive. Tied 5-5, the Mustangs went on a 9-2 run with two aces by Mavrik Schweer, an ace by Maue, and a monster kill by Meester.
West Delaware’s attack efficiency in the championship was negative .136. Mount Vernon had eight blocks (three by CaliAnn Whitaker). Eryn Jackson led with 11 digs.
“Our middles really did a great job of picking up their middle attack,” Willems said. “It is a hard read, but we got our hands up fast and they shut it down better than any time we’ve played against it.”
Meester and Maue each had seven kills in the championship. Schurbon added four and Whitaker had two. Sydney Huber had 18 assists.
“I think everyone did really well,” Maue said. “It was a relief after our first game against them, because that was scary, but we came out and executed right away.”
MV opened Class 3A, Region 1 action against West Marshall (13-22) on Tuesday, Oct. 22. Then they’ll get either PCM (15-10) or Clark (9-20) on Thursday, Oct. 24 in Mount Vernon. The regional final is Tuesday, Oct. 29, in Mount Vernon.
“I love the opportunity to play at home,” Willems said. “So many benefits to that.”
The seniors are ready to return to state and try to better their runner-up finish in 2023.
“It is win or you’re done time,” Meester said. “I feel we’re going to come out and give it our all. We don’t want the season to end.”