Washington volleyball continues to struggle

WASHINGTON — The Washington volleyball team has played a lot of barnburners in Southeast Conference play. The problem is, none of them seem to fall the Demons’ way.

Washington fell in four sets to Fort Madison on Tuesday, dropping the match 25-18, 25-22, 19-25, 25-22.

It was the third-straight loss in Southeast Conference after sweeping now SEC-leading Burlington on the road to start the year, and every one of those defeats have come right down to the wire.

“I think right now it’s more of a discouraging piece,” said head coach Aaron Six. “We don’t have that mentality that we’re going to win those close games.”

The Demons were coming off five set losses to Keokuk and Mt. Pleasant. In all, Washington has lost its last 10 matches.

“It’s just a matter of us being able to play our volleyball,” said Six. “Right now, we’re not playing with any sort of confidence.”

Fort Madison came into Tuesday’s match with an 0-11 record, and the Bloodhounds looked hungry for a win early on. The Demons did have an early 6-3 lead, thanks in part to a Nevaeh Brown ace and a pair of kills from Ella Greiner, but Fort Madison eventually caught fire in a 25-18 win.

The Demons had an even bigger lead early in the second. Leighton Messinger had a kill and two aces to help Washington build a 7-2 advantage. Haley Mitchell notched an early ace of her own, and it looked like the Demons were in good shape.

Fort Madison, however, responded with a 19-7 run, taking the lead and building it to 21-14 before a Messinger kill sparked a Demon comeback.

In all, Messinger had four kills and two aces in the second set, and that helped Washington get the game back within two, as Fort Madison’s advantage shrank to 21-19, but when the dust settled, the Bloodhounds did just enough to take it 25-22.

The third set was tied 14-14 when Alex Murphy erupted for three kills in a row to give the Demons a 17-14 lead and a lot of momentum. Washington went on to take the set 25-19 on a game-winning kill by Greiner.

The energy from the home crowd began to fade early in the fourth as Fort Madison came out red-hot to take a 9-3 lead. Once again, the Demons had to rally.

Trailing 19-16, Greiner scored three points in a row on a kill and back-to-back aces to tie the match at 2020. The match was also tied at 21-21 after a Messinger kill just sneaked inside the back line.

Fort Madison, however, had enough juice left in the tank to close out the fourth set, and the Demons had to settle for another tight loss.

After the game, Coach Six reiterated how competitive his team has been, but says it needs to start seeing some close ones fall its way.

“Early on with a young group being close, that’s a positive,” Six said. “But as we continue and those close sets are going in the wrong direction, it becomes a negative mental piece.”

Washington now sits 4-18 overall and 1-3 in the SEC. The Demons have another shot to grab some momentum ahead of the conference tournament when they visit Fairfield (9-12, 3-1) next Tuesday.