It might seem odd, but if the Mount Vernon volleyball team is shoving each other on the court, good things are happening.
No. 9 Mount Vernon found its happy place in a Class 3A regional semifinal win over No. 15 Tipton, 24-26, 25-18, 25-23, 25-22, on Thursday, Oct. 23, in Mount Vernon.
“We get really excited,” junior Sophia Meester said. “And that’s how we celebrate. That just shows our connectiveness.”
“I think they did have fun,” Mount Vernon Coach Maggie Willems said. “It was a full team effort, and they appreciated when people made exceptional plays, or hustle plays, they really celebrated.”
And there was a lot to celebrate. The Tigers (25-6) were a scrappy team with a talented freshman in Zane Ehler.
She had a big kill to help rally Tipton in the first set. After being down 20-15 at one point, the Tigers closed it out 26-24 on two Mustang errors.
The Mount Vernon team meeting in the hallway between sets was short and sweet.
“I just very gently said, if you are surprised, I’m sorry, I’m not,” Willems said. “I told you this was going to be a battle and this team was good. I’ve seen it. Settle in. You are going to have to battle to win. And that’s what they did.”
“In any postseason match, you are not always going to know what to expect,” senior libero Mavrik Schweer said. “You can train, but never really know their tendencies until you get on the court.
“So I think just getting used to it, but also just limiting our errors and getting into the swing of things.”
And …
“We just said, this is going to be our last time playing if we don’t go out there and play with everything we have,” Meester said. “I think that’s what we did.”
Mount Vernon (22-15) came out in the second set with their hair on fire and raced out to a 6-1 lead behind three kills by Meester, and one by CaliAnn Whitaker.
The Mustangs stretched that lead to 20-10, before winning 25-18.
The Tigers continued to scrap, and the third set was tied 21-21 before the Mustangs got an ace from Isabelle Logue and kills from Meester and Brynlee Bettcher to close it out.
The fourth set was a march to the regional finals for Mount Vernon. Tipton got within two, at 21-19 and 24-22, but the Mustangs closed it out.
“Tipton was really smart,” Whitaker said. “They knew how to put the ball in the holes in our defense.”
Meester finished with a game-high 20 kills. Whitaker added nine. Madison Hoffert had 42 assists and Schweer led the defense with 24 digs, including a huge one near the end of the third set that tilted the match.
“All of us are supposed to have our eyes on that,” Schweer said
Mount Vernon had 15 aces and just five service errors over four sets. Hoffert led with five aces.
After the match, the Mustangs learned that No. 14 Anamosa (26-11) had upset No. 11 West Delaware (30-12) on the other side of the regional bracket.
(Mount Vernon has a history with the Hawks, and the two programs are 13-13 in matches since 2008, per Bound. The Mustangs won a five-set showdown this fall back on Sept. 16.)
“I’m a little bit more excited to play Anamosa,” Schweer said. “There’s always that rivalry (with West Delaware). We always go five.”
The consensus among the players was they were just hyped to return to the regional finals a year after winning the 3A title.
“Everyone was like, we lost all these seniors, so Mount Vernon is going to be in the bottom half,” Whitaker said. “We’ve proven throughout the year, though ups and downs, that we are a good team.”
“At the beginning of the season, there were a lot of doubters,” Meester said. “We’re about to show the doubters we’ve grown so much as a team.”
Mount Vernon hosted Anamosa on Tuesday, Oct. 28.
The Mustangs opened 3A play with a regional quarterfinal win over Alburnett (4-20) on Tuesday, Oct. 21. Mount Vernon swept 25-10, 25-16, 25-10.
Meester led with 10 kills. Hoffert had 30 assists and Schweer had 22 digs.