March 28, 2024

Greene County sweeps Mustangs

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MONROE — Prairie City-Monroe volleyball coach Krystal Ehn couldn’t quite put her finger on what happened in the Mustangs’ three-set loss to Greene County on Tuesday.

Ehn did keep coming back to one thing though.

“The girls need to work on being so mad at themselves when things don’t go well,” Ehn said. “They were in a really bad mood tonight. They weren’t fired up and excited. I am having a hard time keeping them excited. It didn’t matter what I said. They are just in a rut and can’t get out of it.”

PCM jumped out to an early lead in the first set, but once Greene County got an advantage, it never looked back in a 25-15, 25-12, 25-18 road win in Heart of Iowa Conference play.

The Mustangs led 7-3 in the first set after a Regan Olson ace. Greene County though flipped the script in the game when it rolled off seven in a row to take a lead it wouldn’t surrender.

Hannah Promes turned the momentum towards the Rams when she served up four aces during the 7-0 spurt.

The Mustangs closed to within 11-10, but the Rams scored 14 of the final 19 points to run away with the set.

The Rams kept the momentum in the second set, jumping out to an 8-1 lead early.

A kill by senior Katie Vande Wall helped PCM get to within 14-10, but that was the closest the Mustangs got the rest of the way, falling behind two sets to none.

“I thought we blocked well and we had some good serves, but we need to stay on our feet. We need to be more aware of what the other team is capable of,” Ehn said.

“We need to do better at reading the ball.”

The Mustangs never led in the final set. The game was tied at 7-all, but Greene County scored two straight to take a lead and then rolled off four in a row to go up 13-8.

PCM narrowed its deficit late in the match following a kill and an ace by senior Tatum Nearmyer, but the Rams scored three straight points to finish off the sweep.

Vande Wall led the Mustangs with three kills, while senior Kaylee Townsend added three blocks and two kills and sophomore Maddie Samson finished with two kills and two blocks. Sophomore Avery Stock collected five digs, and senior Kayla Jennings delivered six assists.

The Mustangs (4-15 overall, 1-3 in HOIC) plays in the Nevada Invitational at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.