Fairfield knocks out Mt. Pleasant

MT. PLEASANT - One set can change a whole lot in the sport of volleyball. After seeing Mt. Pleasant control the first set of the regional tournament opener on Wednesday night, Fairfield battled to win the second set and blew the Panthers out in the third and the fourth to move on, winning 17-25, 25-21, 25-13, 25-12.

'We did start pretty slow, pretty flat,” Trojan head coach Diana Drish said. 'The kids just decided that we have to play, and we have to be excited and enthusiastic. I think for probably the second time this season, they played with enthusiasm the rest of the night.”

Fairfield scored the first three points of the night, but Mt. Pleasant caught fire to build a five-point lead in the first. The Panthers scored the next seven points, six of which came off the serving hand of Ralyn Seberg, to lead 7-3, and stretched that lead to 9-4 three points later.

Fairfield was able to battle back to tie the game at 13-13, but Mt. Pleasant regained the lead and never looked back. The Panthers were able to find the holes in the Fairfield defense throughout the first set and take set one, 25-17, getting five kills out of Avery Sutter and three from Lexie Magnani in the first set.

'We came out swinging,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach David Streeter. 'We were passing the ball well, and they made a few adjustments. They hit a few tips on us in the second, and we just weren't able to get another rhythm going.”

The Trojan defense buckled down in the second set. Mt. Pleasant's softer hits stopped falling into holes and Fairfield was able to slowly, but surely, steal momentum back.

'We knew that they weren't very hard, aggressive hitters,” said Fairfield libero Olivia McClaran. 'We knew that they were very scrappy, so we came prepared for that.”

The second game was tied on several different occasions; 7-7, 8-8, 10-10 and 13-13. Fairfield went on a modest 4-1 run to take a 17-14 lead and didn't look back. Olivia Jones had five kills in the set and both Anna Dunlap and Chloe Stever had three. Stever ended the set with a kill.

Jones continued to feast at the net in the third set, tallying five more kills. She led the Trojans to a 25-13 win in the third set. The Trojans kept momentum up in the fourth to run away 25=12 in the fourth.

Jones ended the game with 14 kills for the Trojans. Ellie Anderson and Grace Stever had seven each. Lily Hoskins and Olivia McClaran finished with 23 digs apiece, and Hoskins dished out 40 assists.

Fairfield had 123 aces in the win. Allison Rebling had four on her own.

Maggie Cristoforo had a consistent day for the Panthers, finishing with 13 kills. Avery Sutter had eight.

Fairfield moves on to play No. 3 North Scott in Eldridge on Tuesday, Oct. 29. The winner of that game will play in the Regional tournament championship on Nov. 4, against either Burlington or Ft. Madison. Ft. Madison knocked off Keokuk in the other opening round matchup in the region, taking that one in four.

Mt. Pleasant's season has come to an end. Their final record was 7-27.