Mt. Pleasant volleyball swept at home

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant volleyball team went through some more growing pains on Thursday night. The Panthers looked promising early before dropping a three-set match to non-conference foe Albia, falling 25-22, 25-7, 25-12.

Mt. Pleasant led throughout the first set, even building a five-point lead on a Jacara Ivey kill that made it 20-15. Mt. Pleasant led by five again when Andrea Lopreato blocked an Albia kill attempt to bring the Panthers within three points of a win, at 22-17.

That’s when disaster struck. Albia put together an 8-0 rally to win the first set 25-22, and then rattled off eight more points to start the second.

“We kind of had a let up,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach David Streeter. “We were passing the ball well, and our hitters were able to get some swings on, and then it just kind of fell apart.”

Mt. Pleasant ended Albia’s big run in the second set with a kill from Emma Starr, and kept it relatively close at the beginning of the third, but they could never put together another run at winning a set.

Mt. Pleasant fell to 2-9 with the loss. The Panthers will look to improve on their 0-1 Southeast Conference record when they play Burlington (3-8, 0-1) on the road on Tuesday.