Mt. Pleasant volleyball gets familiar foe in opening round

KEOKUK — It all comes down to this for Mt. Pleasant volleyball.

With the regular season now complete, it means it’s now time for regional play.

For the Panthers (9-27), that means competing in the Class 4A Region 8 bracket.

To Mt. Pleasant’s favor, it gets a familiar foe in their opening match.

The Panthers are set to square off with fellow Southeast Conference squad Keokuk (10-15) on the road.

Mt. Pleasant and Keokuk have played twice this season and both times it was a competitive one.

Both times the Panthers defeated the Chiefs, once 3-1 during the regular season and once more during the Southeast Conference tournament 2-1.

In four of the seven sets played, the two teams were separated by four points for less.

Mt. Pleasant has won the last seven matches against Keokuk, dating back to 2020.

Through the regular season, Myah Starr leads the Panthers with 135 kills. Emma Starr follows with 134 and Alex Scott has 123.

Abby Carthey leads in assists with 405.

Scott comes in with a team-high 244 digs, along with a high in aces, 34. Emma Starr has 206 digs with 25 aces. Addison Peck has carded 193 digs. Carthey, Addison Clark and Courtney Raub all have over 100 digs as well.

For Keokuk, Makenna Altgilbers leads with 268 kills, 348 digs and 42 aces. All are team-highs.

The only other Chief with over 100 kills is Camryn Atterberg with 105.

Kendra Boatman has 414 assists as well as 96 kills.

Mt. Pleasant and Keokuk are set to square off on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Keokuk.