March 28, 2024

Mustangs lose to Hawks on Senior Night

MONROE — The opening set of Thursday’s Heart of Iowa Conference match was going strong for Prairie City-Monroe’s volleyball team.

But after dropping a close one to South Hamilton, the Mustangs never got the momentum back during a 25-23, 25-15, 25-12 loss to the Hawks.

PCM held a lead of 16-13 and 19-16 in the opening set, but South Hamilton rallied. The Mustangs’ intensity was never the same after that.

“They got the momentum at that point, we lost the intensity for a bit and then we got down on ourselves,” PCM coach Mike Vittetoe said.

Vittetoe said service errors hurt the Mustangs in the first set. Then unforced errors turned momentum over to the Hawks for good in the second frame.

“We started putting together unforced errors. We had some hitting errors and we hit it out of bounds I don’t know how many times,” Vittetoe said. “You are going to have unforced errors, but you can’t string them together like that.”

South Hamilton spoiled Senior Night for PCM’s four seniors — Shelby Voeller, Meghan Kinnamon, Chloe Inskeep and Maybelle Smith.

Celeste Wagaman kept PCM (5-22 overall, 1-6 in the HOIC) in the opening set with a kill to tie it at 5-all, a kill to tie it at 8-all and a kill to put her team up 18-16. A block by Kassidy Block gave PCM a 20-19 lead.

Claire Wilson pounded down a kill later to tie the score at 22, but the Hawks scored three of the next four points to seal the win.

The final point of the set for South Hamilton (14-18, 3-4) came on a service error by the Mustangs.

“The hitters were on early and the intensity was really good,” Vittetoe said. “The thing that hurt us in game one was our serving errors. Those serves are big in a close game.”

South Hamilton got off to a fast start in the second set, but a kill by Jacki Vos got the Mustangs within 12-8 before an ace by Bella Stone made it 14-12.

The Mustangs eventually went on top with Stone’s serve, but the Hawks scored the final 11 points of the frame to go up 2-0 in the match.

“We lost the intensity with a few errors. You could see it with their body language,” Vittetoe said.

South Hamilton’s blockers made an adjustment to Wagaman at the net in the final set. The Mustang junior had at least two with her the entire set, and PCM couldn’t muster up enough offense to hang around.

“They started taking things away from her,” Vittetoe said about the adjustment on Wagaman.

A 5-0 run put the visitors in front 11-4 and then a 7-0 spurt allowed South Hamilton to go up 22-9. The two teams split the next six points, but it wasn’t enough for the Mustangs to extend the match.

Vittetoe said Emma Houser had one of her better hitting matches of the season. Wagaman and Houser led the offensive attack with five and four kills, respectively. Wilson finished with a pair of kills. Block, Voeller, Vos and Stone all had one kill.

Voeller tallied 10 assists and five digs and Houser collected a team-high six digs. Chelsea Bird and Inskeep each had three digs and Kinnamon, Stone and Wilson all had two digs. Riley Hjortshoj and Wagaman had one dig apiece.

The Mustangs were 30-of-38 in serves in the match. Stone was 13-of-14 with four aces.

PCM begins postseason play against Class 3A No. 13 Nevada at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in Nevada.