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The Parry McCluer High School volleyball team secured third place in last week’s Pioneer District tournament, suffering a tough 3-2 home loss to Eastern Montgomery in the semifinals before bouncing back to sweep Narrows in the consolation match.
The Fighting Blues (9-9) were slated to travel to Auburn, the No. 2 seed from the Mountain Empire District, in the Region 1C quarterfinals on Monday. The regional semifinals are scheduled for Thursday. For regional tournament updates, visit www.thenews-gazette. com.
Last Tuesday, the third-seeded Mustangs outlasted second-seeded PM in a five-set match in Buena Vista.
Macie Akers totaled 10 kills, 11 assists and three aces to lead EastMont to a 16-25, 29-27, 25-13, 20-25, 15-9 victory. Brookelyn Kingery finished with seven kills, nine assists and three aces for the Mustangs, and Olivia Boone contributed seven kills and three aces.
Kadence Zollman paced the Blues with 13 kills and five aces. Natalie Mohler added 19 assists and 17 digs for PM, while Sydney Mahaffey tallied six kills and 16 digs. Tatyana Turner chipped in 14 digs and a match-high seven aces, and Peira Conner notched six kills and three blocks.
PM had won its final seven regular-season games against district foes, avenging an earlier 3-0 loss to the Mustangs with a 3-0 home victory on Oct. 5. But despite claiming the opener in round three, the Blues were unable to maintain their momentum in the postseason matchup.
PM head coach Jessie Moala said that “lack of communication, lack of moving your feet, lack of consistency” doomed the Blues in Tuesday’s match.
Still, the home side jumped out to the lead, going on an early 11-2 run to open up a 14-7 advantage in the first set and cruising to the 25-16 victory.
EastMont leveled the match by taking the second stanza in extras. The Blues rallied from 20-15 and 23-20 deficits to extend the set, even serving for a 2-0 lead at 26-25, but a couple of costly PM errors and a timely setter dump from Kingery helped to tie things up.
The Mustangs used an 8-0 run to break open the third set, going ahead 23-10 on an ace from Olivia Boone. But the Blues countered with a fourth-set win, getting key kills from Turner and Zollman down the stretch to force a decisive frame.
“The girls started to actually play Blues volleyball [in the fourth set], and didn’t play scared,” Moala said.
Yet EastMont gained the upper hand in the fifth set, tallying the first three points and never trailing en route to securing the road victory. Hailey Akers had three of her six kills in the final frame, while Boone and Kingery notched two apiece.
One bright spot for PM was the service game of senior Savannah Lewis, who tallied five aces in the match.
“Sav’s serves have come a long way,” Moala said of Lewis. “She has really worked on it in the offseason, and you can really tell a total difference this season. They’re [Lewis’s serves] really strong, powerful and consistent.”
On Thursday, top seed Bath County (17-5) swept the Mustangs (13-13) in the championship match, winning by a count of 25-18, 2519, 25-18 to claim the Pioneer District title.
PM 3, NHS 0
PM rebounded with a convincing 3-0 victory over fourth-seeded Narrows in the third-place match at home on Thursday.
Mahaffey tallied 10 kills and Zollman notched six blocks as the Blues cruised to a 25--16, 25-15, 25-20 win. Mohler totaled 11 assists and three service aces, and Lewis recorded four blocks and three aces.
Emma Helvey paced the Green Wave (6-17) with six kills, while Karsyn Reed posted 10 assists and Addyson Johnson finished with four kills and two blocks.
Rather than hang their heads after Tuesday’s disappointing result, the Blues had an excellent practice session on Wednesday – and it paid off on the court the next night.
“We talked about communication and movement, and I think they did a really good job of implementing all of those [things] tonight,” Moala said. “They just played like their normal selves. They didn’t play scared or timid, and they just trusted each other a lot more tonight.”
PM put its stamp on the match early, reeling off an 11-1 run to take a 17-10 advantage midway through the first set. The Blues wouldn’t fall behind for the rest of the night, racing out to a 12-4 lead in the second stanza and using late spurts of 5-1 and 4-0 to capture the third frame.
PM’s blockers gave the Narrows hitters fits throughout the contest. The Blues recorded seven team blocks in the game, and the presence of Zollman, Conner, Lewis and others also forced a slew of attacking errors from the Green Wave.
“Kadence really showed up with her blocking,” Moala said. “Peira’s gotten a lot more confident with her blocking skills, and just being more powerful on the front row. Our middles have really stepped it up.”
Conner also contributed five kills for PM, and Keely Mahaffey registered seven assists and three kills. Zollman, Sydney Mahaffey and Logan Vest served up two aces apiece, and Zollman also had three kills and six digs.
