Panthers down Demons

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant volleyball team got a taste of revenge in Thursday night's Southeast Conference opener against Washington. The Panthers were downed in a five-set thriller when the two teams met in the regular season last year, but the Panthers made quick work of the Demons on Thursday night, sweeping Washington 25-11, 25-11, 25-13.

Washington scored first in set one when Olivia Marek picked up a kill on the first point. Mt. Pleasant responded by scoring 10 of the next 12 though, including an Avery Sutter ace and a Kenna Lamm kill to make it 10-3 Panthers.

Mt. Pleasant eventually ran the lead up to double digits when Avery Sutter earned a kill on a block. They would cruise to the 14-point victory and grab momentum early.

Washington once again picked up an early 1-0 lead in the second set, and after a couple of Panther points picked up a kill from Remy Messinger to make it 2-2. Mt. Pleasant responded to that with a 13-3 run and brought the lead to double digits on a Karsyn Lamm kil to stretch the advantage to 15-5.

The Panthers cruised in the second set from that point forward. Kenna ended the set with back-to-back kills for Mt. Pleasant's second-straight 25-11 win.

The Demons kept it closer in set three, and even led 9-8 after a kill by Taylor Brinning, but Mt. Pleasant punched back with a 5-0 run and never looked back. Karsyn picked up four kills and an ace in the final set and helped the Panthers complete the sweep.

'It was good to come out in the first home game with a win,” said Karsyn. 'We had a rough weekend last week so we wanted to start off the conference well to give ourselves a chance in the conference.”

It was the first win for Mt. Pleasant in their last five games, a welcome site to head coach David Streeter. 'It's nice to finally be able to see what they've always done,” Streeter said. 'They clicked tonight. Hopefully they see that and we can keep it going from here.”

Mt. Pleasant is now 2-7 overall and 1-0 in the SEC. They'll travel to Keokuk on Tuesday. Washington fell to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in league play, and will play in the Anamosa tournament this weekend.