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Mt. Pleasant claws back, but falls in 5
Panthers erase 2-set deficit against Keokuk, falter in deciding game
MT. PLEASANT — What looked to be a potential sweep at Mt. Pleasant Community High School on Tuesday night turned into a dogfight until the very end.
Mt. Pleasant, down two sets at one point in the Southeast Conference opener came all the way back to tie the match at 2-2, but Keokuk put the pedal to the medal for a five-set victory, winning 25-22, 25-12, 16-25, 23-25, 15-4.
The Chiefs pulled out what was a back and forth battle in the first set, beating the Panthers by three points despite a five-kill game by Mt. Pleasant’s Addison Clark. The Chiefs completely controlled the second set and the Panthers were in danger of being swept.
In the third, Mt. Pleasant dashed out to a 9-4 lead, building its biggest advantage of the day and never looking back. Myah Starr’s ace for the final point gave the Panthers a 25-16 lead and a lot of momentum going into the fourth.
Keokuk took back that momentum right away, going up 4-0 early in the fourth set, but Mt. Pleasant had plenty of fight left. The panthers turned the four-point deficit into a six-point lead, going up 20-14 at one point in the match.
Keokuk responded by rattling off an incredible 9-0 run to get on the doorstep of a four-set victory. The Chiefs led 23-21, but Alex Scott ended the run with a kill, and Sonya Simon served the next four points, collecting two aces to help push the game into a deciding fifth set.
“Sonya is a good leader,” Mt. Pleasant head coach Logan Wall said. I’m excited to have her out there.”
The Panthers, however, couldn’t capitalize in the final set. Keokuk scored six of the first seven points and dominated the final game 15-4 to close out the win, thanks in large part to a 22-kill, eight-block game by senior Camryn Atterberg.
“ (Atterberg) had a great game, so we were trying to avoid her as much as possible,” Wall said. “We’ll know that for next time.”
Scott went for 15 kills and 29 digs in the loss. Addison Clarak finished with 10 kills and 11 digs. Kynlee White had 6 kills and 11 digs, and Abby Carthey paced the team with 22 assists, while Sonya Simon had 16.
The Panthers finished the night with 11 aces. Simon led the way with five. Scott, Starr and Peck each finished with two.
The Panthers fell to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play with the loss.
