Comeback kids: MP stuns Fairfield

MT. PLEASANT - The Panther volleyball team looked dead and buried in the third set of Tuesday night's Southeast Conference tilt with Fairfield, but Mt. Pleasant resurrected like never before to stage a huge comeback and beat their rivals in five sets.

The Trojans had taken the first two sets and were ahead by double digits in the second, leading 23-13 at one point. Mt. Pleasant scored 13 of the last 14 points to steal the third set and eventually picked up their first conference win, 23-25, 19-25, 26-24, 25-23, 15-12.

In the first set it was the Trojans who seemed to be the team of destiny. Fairfield trailed 22-16, but scraped back to tie the game at 23-23. Two points later, Sophie Wallerich scored the set-winning point with an ace.

The Trojans dominated in set two, utilizing a three-kill set from Olivia Jones and a trifecta of aces from Carly Ferrell to scoot by 25-19, and they rolled to a commanding lead in the third, ready to end the night early.

'When we were down, I told them we can roll over or we can keep fighting,” Mt. Pleasant coach David Streeter said. 'They made the decision to keep fighting. It was all them. There was no give up. I just kind of sat back and watched the show, and they did a little magic.”

Mt. Pleasant scored 10 of the next 11 points, including a handful of match-point spoilers. Lexie Magnani served match point after match point, elluding defeat every step of the way until eventually tying it at 24-24.

'It's crazy,” Magnani said. 'You think that you're going to lose, and then you win, and you're like, ‘We're completely in this.' It's definitely an emotional rollercoaster, because you go from all the way down to just euphoric.”

With all the momentum on Mt. Pleasant's side, leading 25-24, Lyndi Situmeang and Karsyn Lamm ended it with a block that landed in back-middle part of the Fairfield box.

Mt. Pleasant would go on to hold off a Trojan rally in the fourth set, taking it 25-23. Situmeang came up big again, tallying the game-winning kill after Fairfield had scrapped back from five down to cut the lead to one.

The Panthers were short-handed in the fifth set, playing it without Maggie Cristoforo, who went down with an injury in the fourth. Despite that, the Panthers scored the first four points of the match.

Fairfield didn't fold. The Trojans fed Grace Stever and Olivia Jones set-up after set-up. Stever had four kills in the final set. Jones had three kills and a block. But the Trojans could never tie the game back up.

Fairfield did cut the lead to two points, at 14-12, on an ace by Lily Hoskins, but the Panthers scored the final point and celebrated an improbable victory.

'It's an emotional roller coaster with them, and sometimes you have no clue what's going to happen,” Streeter said. 'They needed that. They needed a turnaround, and hopefully they feed off of it.”

Karsyn Lamm led the Panthers with eight kills in the win. Cristoforo, Magnani, Situmeang and Avery Sutter each had seven.

April Simon led the team wit 17 digs. Reece Barton had 11. Ralyn Seberg finished with 28 assists, and Magnani had 16.

Jones ended the day with 10 kills and six aces to lead the Trojans. Stever had eight kills.

Olivia McClaran led the way with 24 digs. Lily Hoskins ended the night with 20 digs, 13 assists and three aces.

Mt. Pleasant is now 5-16 overall and 1-3 in the Southeast Conference. They will finish out SEC play at home against Burlington on Tuesday, Oct. 1.

Fairfield is 2-13 overall and 1-3 in conference play. They'll host Keokuk on Tuesday in their last SEC game as well.