March 28, 2024

Mustang volleyball team splits two in Heart of Iowa triangular

DES MOINES — It was hard to know what Prairie City-Monroe volleyball coach Krystal Ehn could take away from her team’s first 10 matches of the season.

That stretch featured a 1-9 record, but Ehn was working several different lineups, and the Mustangs were facing some of the best competition they will face all season long.

PCM had a week to work through its weaknesses and figure out how to get into the win column more, and the Mustangs took advantage of their competition break. They returned to action Tuesday night, and the Mustangs split two Heart of Iowa Conference matches with Saydel and North Polk.

PCM rolled past Saydel 25-17, 25-16 and then were defeated by the Comets 25-13, 25-17.

“We only have two starters back from last year, so we have a young team that doesn’t have a lot of varsity experience,” Ehn said. “We are still working through some things, but we are getting better.”

Ehn felt like her squad was better Tuesday than it was during the first two tournaments of the season back in August.

Against Saydel, PCM jumped out to an early lead in the opening set and cruised to the win. In the final game, Ehn took a timeout with her team down 13-11, and the Mustangs responded by winning the next six points and took the 14 of the 17 points to sweep the match.

Katie VandeWall and Maddie Samson each had four kills to lead the Mustangs offensively. Kayla Jennings dished out 13 assists, while Olivia Lippman collected 14 digs and Ashley Van Gorp had nine digs.

The Mustangs had 13 aces against Saydel. Five of those came from Jennings, while Mackenzie Messick had three and Van Gorp had two.

Hannah Becker was too big of a force for PCM to handle in the second match.

Becker especially made her presence felt in the final game as she notched two kills and a block to give the Comets an early 6-1 advantage.

PCM battled back, but the slow start was too much to overcome. The Comets also got out to a 6-1 lead in the opener and Becker’s blast later gave North Polk an 18-8 lead.

“They played really well against Saydel tonight, but we need to step up our game and prepare more for teams that are more aggressive like North Polk,” Ehn said.

Against the Comets, Van Gorp had six kills and Messick had three. Jennings finished with 12 assists, Tatum Nearmyer claimed 11 digs, and Van Gorp had the only two aces.

The Mustangs are now 2-10 overall and 1-1 in HOIC play. They’ll play at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at South Hamilton.