MOUNT VERNON — The 2009 meeting between Mount Vernon and Coshocton high schools in girls volleyball was another struggle between intercounty rivals on Saturday. Mount Vernon prevailed in five games, 22-25, 25-17, 24-26, 25-15, 15-13.
“It was a close game like last year,” Mount Vernon hitter Samantha Nuce (15 points, four aces) said. “It was really rough, but we played well. It was one of our best games of the year. We came out here knowing that they had a strong team and we just worked hard.”
The Redskins took two of the first three games and looked like they were in control. In Game 2, Mount Vernon had to battle back for the win.
“We hit a rut in the second game,” said Nuce. “We worked out of it as a team. We knew what we had to do.”
Answering the call and winning Game 4, 25-15, the Jackets carried the momentum over and made a run in the final game to take the match.
“We were down by about five or six,” said Nuce. “We just tried to keep our energy up — that’s how we play better. We kept a positive attitude and we almost ended up winning.”
“Every game here recently, we seem to be getting ourselves into a hole,” Mount Vernon hitter Karina Shackle (10 kills) said. “We seem to beat ourselves and coach keeps telling us, ‘You guys (have) got to quit (beating yourselves), you guys (have) got to quit.’ In that Game (5), I never saw our team more excited. We were cheering and in that game we really did try our hardest. You could tell that we wanted it.”
In addition, Kate Reynolds had 15 points, four aces and 20 assists for the Jackets. Sam Arcilla had six kills. Rachael Ward had nine kills and eight points. Alex Miglin had nine kills and nine points.
Now with two wins under their belts, the Jackets’ positive attitude is unshakable.
“This year we have less seniors than we did last year,” said Nuce. “We’re working together and keeping positive. Last year the team was kind of split, so we are trying to stay together and stay positive the whole year through.”
“There is a completely different feeling on this team,” said Shackle. “We all get along — like it’s unbelievable. We are so close as a team this year. It’s exciting. Last year was fun, but we just didn’t have the chemistry but this year in a blast.”
Mount Vernon is back in action tonight, hosting Worthington Kilbourne in a nonleague match starting at 5:30.
Editor’s note: Due to several inaccuracies in the original story, which appeared in Monday’s edition of the News, the preceding story was rerun with the corrections made.The News regrets the error.
