Demons drop home opener to rival Mt. Pleasant

With rivals Mt. Pleasant and Washington tied at 28 in the second set, Mt. Pleasant sophomore Kelsi Phipps came through with the biggest point in Tuesday?s Southeast Conference volleyball match.

Phipps spiked down a kill to give the Panthers a 29-28 lead, and Mt. Pleasant won the set on the next point. The Panthers went on to sweep the Demons by scores of 25-21, 30-28 and 25-23.

?I just had to get it over,? said Phipps, who had eight kills and four blocks in the match. ?It was a close game, and you?ve got to be smart with the ball. That?s what I did.?

After the Panthers jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the second set, they had to hold off a furious Washington rally.

?[Head coach Jeff] Spenner called a timeout, and we kind of looked at the score and realized how bad it really was,? Washington senior Lauren Kimball said. ?We had to fight back.?

Washington sophomore Lauren Swan?s back-to-back aces gave the Demons a 22-21 lead, their first lead in the set. From there it was back and forth, with both teams serving set point three times before the Panthers finally won.

?I honestly thought we had a great chance at winning that [set],? Spenner said. ?We had game point a couple of times. I just thought we were too timid at the end of the game. But the comeback was great.?

Mt. Pleasant?s win in the second set was not only a turning point in Tuesday?s match, but also what Panther head coach Luci Wulfekuhle hopes is a turning point in her team?s season. Mt. Pleasant lost three close sets at No. 9 Fairfield last Thursday.

?That was huge,? Wulfekuhle said. ?It was a huge confidence builder for the girls. It proved to them that they can finish.?

The Panthers had trouble finishing off the Demons in the third set, however. After kills by seniors Beth Dillon and Sammy Ellingson and an ace by sophomore Stephanie Fishback, the Demons led 18-12 in the third set, prompting Wulfekuhle to call a timeout.

?We finally called a timeout and I said, ?You don?t work so hard in Game 2 just to give up Game 3,?? Wulfekuhle said. ?They turned it around.?

After the timeout, Mt. Pleasant (3-4, 1-1 SEC) scored six straight points ? with senior Linzie Hood and junior Taryne Shull both getting a pair of kills in the run ? to tie the score. The Panthers used that momentum to win the set 25-23.

Washington also jumped out to an early 10-5 lead in the first set, but the Panthers rallied to win that one, too.

?We?re definitely off and on a lot,? said Kimball, who had 29 assists on the night. ?But I think if we can just learn to stay focused and not let up, we?ll be a lot better.?

Senior Elinor Krieger-Coble had a match-high 16 kills to lead the Panthers, and she also had three blocks. Shull finished with 10 kills and four blocks, and Hood had five kills and four digs. Junior Ashley Loving dished out 22 assists and served four aces. Senior Kathryn Chabal had 15 digs in the match, and senior Madison Pullis added 11.

Dillon had 10 kills to lead the Demons, and she also had 13 digs. Fishback added nine kills and 10 digs, and Ellingson had eight kills and 12 digs. Swan had 18 digs in the match, and junior Maddie Collins added 13.

The loss was a frustrating one for the Demons (3-6, 0-1 SEC), who were hoping to not only win their conference opener, but also win their first match in the new Washington High School gymnasium.

?It was kind of disappointing to lose our first game in the new gym, but we can always come back and win the next one,? Kimball said.

Washington travels to Fairfield on Thursday and will try to get its first win in the new gym when it hosts Keokuk next Tuesday.