Mt. Pleasant stuns Burlington in fifth set thriller

BURLINGTON — Burlington has had Mt. Pleasant’s number on the volleyball court this season to say the least.

Out of the five meetings throughout the regular season, five times Burlington walked away victorious.

The narrative changed when the two met on Tuesday night for their Class 4A regional first round matchup at Burlington’s own Johannsen Gymnasium.

Mt. Pleasant avenged its five straight losses to the Grayhounds when it mattered most, taking the regional bout, 25-23, 18-25, 25-23, 10-25 and 15-7.

“It feels great (to defeat Burlington),” junior outside hitter Emma Starr said. “Last year we did really well against them, but this year it wasn’t the same scenario, so it feels really good to win tonight.”

In what was a back and forth affair for much of the night and the fifth and final set of the night was no different.

Burlington came into the fifth off a dominant 15 point set four victory.

The Grayhounds carried some of that momentum to start the fifth, as they jumped out to a 4-2 advantage, but Mt. Pleasant would respond.

Mt. Pleasant’s Jersey Beachy put together some efficient serving and the Panthers did what they needed to do on both sides of the net, scoring 11 unanswered to take hold of the match, 13-4.

Burlington would score three points the rest of the way, but an Andrea Lopreato perfectly placed tip would win it.

Starr said that knowing that it was win or go home lit a fire under the team.

“I think the biggest difference for us was the fire and drive we had to get them this time when it really mattered most.”

Through the first four sets, neither team could pull away from the other.

In set one, Burlington would lead 4-2 early, but Mt. Pleasant bounced back to lead 5-4. The Panthers wouldn’t trail until the Grayhounds took a 13-12 advantage.

The deficit was short lived though as the Panthers pulled back in front at 15-14 and would never trail again.

Mt. Pleasant had quite a scare in the end as they tied their largest lead of just four at 22-18, but Burlington was able to cut it to one at 24-23.

Set two was similar to the first, but would end in Burlington’s favor.

The Panthers lept out to a 5-2 lead, but the Grayhounds didn’t take long to come back and take a 7-6 lead.

They would never give it up.

Mt. Pleasant would come within one at 13-12, but Burlington would outscore the Panthers 12-6 the rest of the way.

In set three, Mt. Pleasant never trailed and it looked as if they were going to dominate.

The Panthers held leads of 5-1, 9-3, 15-7 and 17-8, but the Grayhounds never gave up.

After leading 21-17, the Panthers gave up three straight points to make it a one point game at 21-20 and the Grayhounds went on to tie it at 22-22.

In the end, Mt. Pleasant held strong as Starr was able to bring the set to a close.

It was all Burlington in the fourth set of the night.

The Grayhounds led 10-4 and 15-6 throughout the match.

After Mt. Pleasant made it 16-10, the Grayhounds ended the set with nine unanswered to send it to the fifth.

“I’m extremely proud,” Mt. Pleasant head coach David Streeter said. “These guys have had our number five times. Our girls could have easily rolled in here and thought of this as a loss, but they came in here fighting, swinging and came out with a win.”

With the win, the Panthers (9-26) move on to face Oskaloosa (22-10) on Thursday in Oskaloosa. The two teams faced off once during the regular season. The Indians were winners 2-0 at their home tournament.

“We’re really going to have to work on our blocking,” Starr said. “We played then in a tournament a few weekends ago and they had a tough outside hitter. We will have to try and get some block so we’re able to get our offense up and running again.”

The Panthers and Indians are set to begin at 7 p.m at Oskaloosa High School.