Mt. Pleasant sweeps Washington in SEC volleyball

WASHINGTON — It always means a little more to beat a rival and that meaning increases when it is a sweep. And maybe it takes some sting away from Friday’s football game.

Mt. Pleasant notched a 3-0 win in a Southeast Conference volleyball match at Washington Tuesday.

“Usually we have a little trouble when we come here, but the girls played well,” Mt. Pleasant coach David Streeter said.

The Panthers had some added help from the audience.

“The students cheering was huge,” Streeter said. “We’re actually not used to them following us like that. They have been pretty big for us this year and that’s awesome for the girls.”

The Panthers are 10-8 and 2-1 in the SEC while the Demons are 0-12, 0-3.

The first set was tied 5-5, but a Kenna Lamm slam helped the Panthers forge a seven-point lead. Ella Greiner connected on consecutive kills to get the Demons within 14-11 but mistakes allowed a 25-16 Panthers win.

Washington led the second set 5-4 on a Kenializ Espinoza kill but Demon timeouts trailing 8-6 and 14-8 couldn’t slow the Panthers. Digs by Regan Seberg, sets by Ralynn Seberg, Andrea Lopreato’s block, and a back row kill from Lydia Ebeling pushed the Panthers to a 25-17 win.

Mt. Pleasant seemed to elevate higher, communicate better and won the majority of points when it was out of system.

"We don’t practice those scramble plays, we just hustle all the time and keep talking,“ Ralynn Seberg said.

"I emphasize on the hustle and not giving up until the ball hits the floor,“ Streeter said. ”It’s about hustle and if you get the hustle points, it takes some steam from the other team.“

Mount Pleasant cleaned up their passing and were much more consistent during the third set when they took a 5-1 lead on an ace by Regan Seberg and extended it to 13-3 on an ace by Ralynn Seberg. That prompted a timeout by Washington but repeated kills on the outside from Lamm helped the Panthers finish it off at 25-13.

“We talk about consistency all the time and I thought that is what came through for us in that last set,” Streeter said.

Washington has not had a practice with all of its players available since the before the first match of the season.

“Our overall team chemistry was not there,” Washington head coach Aaron Six said. “We were playing people in different positions, different spots and it will take time. We are accomplishing little steps and goals that we need and I’m proud of the progress we are making.”