GREENFIELD — In a back and forth match, Mt. Vernon had just enough to pull away.
The Marauders, visiting county rival Greenfield-Central in search of a bounce-back win, put together streaks of points when it mattered.
After starting the season 10-0, the Marauders had lost three straight to highly-ranked opponents. They got back to their winning ways Tuesday with a 25-18, 25-19, 17-25, 25-13 win against the Cougars.
“We served well. We’ve worked a lot on keeping service pressure on the other team,” Mt. Vernon coach Eric Bulmahn said. “We did struggle on offense — we weren’t connecting a lot. Claire Ertel seemed to have it the entire match, so that was great to have somebody that you can count on. I thought Victoria (Bulmahn) did a nice job setting and being an offensive weapon.”
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The Cougars (12-5, 2-2 Hoosier Heritage Conference) didn’t make it easy for the Marauders. Mt. Vernon led early in the first two sets, but the Cougars kept it within a few points and caused multiple ties before the visitors would pull away in each.
Mt. Vernon (11-3, 3-1) had its easiest time in the first set, scoring the first point of the match off an Ertel kill and never relinquishing the lead. Each point was a battle, but the Marauders stayed ahead by three or four points for most of the set before finishing off the 25-18 win.
Ertel had four kills, the Marauders had four aces and Olivia Yeley and Rachel Pilkington combined for several blocks in the first-set win.
The second set started much like the first, with the visitors jumping ahead early before the hosts tightened up the score. The Marauders raced out to a 7-3 lead, only to see the Cougars score four straight to tie things at 7. From there, the teams traded points, tying the score at 12, 14, 15 and 16 before Mt. Vernon finally edged away from the Cougars for a 25-19 win.
“They played some great defense,” Bulmahn said of Greenfield-Central. “They started getting their rhythm on defense, so we had to change our strategy a little bit, start doing some tipping and mixing things in so they couldn’t get comfortable out there.”
The third set was a different story. The Cougars gained control early — their first lead of the match — pulling ahead 6-2 in the set and forcing Mt. Vernon’s first timeout of the night.
The Cougars went up by as many as seven, at 18-11, before the Marauders fought back to get within 18-14 and forced a timeout. Greenfield-Central wouldn’t give up momentum, though, pulling out a 25-17 win and sending the match to a fourth set.
Mt. Vernon started the fourth set on a roll, scoring the first four points of the set and putting the Cougars on their heels. Greenfield-Central got one back out of the timeout but the Marauders went on another run, opening up an 8-1 lead.
“All year we’ve been talking about mentally finishing strong,” Bulman said. “The third set, give Greenfield-Central credit. They came out, they were playing well. This is one of those good battles that anybody can come out on top.”
“I was really happy to see them come back, focus in the fourth set, not make all the errors they made earlier,” he said of the Marauders. “Hopefully it gives them some confidence.”
Greenfield-Central fell behind by double digits and the Marauders finished the match off with a 25-13 win.
Mt. Vernon was led by Ertel’s 11 kills, 12 digs and an ace. Victoria Bulmahn added nine kills, 12 digs, two solo blocks, an assisted block and two aces to go with her 29 assists. Cecilia Bulmahn had six kills, three aces and nine digs. As a team, the Marauders had 10 aces.
The Cougars were led by Ava Antic’s 13 kills and 13 digs. Makayla Price had nine kills and two digs. Morgan Hornaday had 28 assists and eight digs, and Morgan Grigsby added 15 digs.
It was an important win for the Marauders. After losing to two top five teams in the state last week, the county rivalry Tuesday was a fourth tough match in six days for Mt. Vernon.
The road only gets more difficult from here.
“We definitely needed to get a win. We played great against Hamilton Southeastern, but we couldn’t close out the match,” Bulman said. “We’re a young team that has got to learn how to win. I thought we really needed a win tonight. We’ve got New Castle on Thursday, ranked third in the state, then we’ve got Center Grove Saturday, who is ranked eighth in the state.
“It doesn’t get easier. We have to get some momentum to knock off one of those top teams.”