Mount Academy falls in state semifinals
Mount Academy went 2-4 in Saturday’s Class D pool-play semifinals to fall short in qualifying for the state final.
Mount Academy’s first-year volleyball team made an impression in its state final four debut Saturday.
The Eagles went 2-4 in Class D pool play at the Cool Insuring Arena. Mount Academy started the day by losing two tough sets to 2016 champion Panama 25-22, 25-21. It then split against defending state titlist Bainbridge-Guilford, losing the first set 25-20, then winning 25-23.
The team closed out the day with a split against Mayfield, taking the first set 25-17, then losing 25-20.
Bainbridge and Panama finished 4-2 and will tangle in a rematch of last year’s final 10 a.m. Sunday.
Cayla Boller (34 kills, three blocks, 17 digs, two assists, 10 service points), Adela Blough (49
assists, 18 digs, four kills, three blocks, 16 points with five aces), Vera Tietze (17 kills, three blocks, three digs), Skylar Arnold (16 digs, four kills, 22 points with three aces), Sharon Hofer (17 digs, eight points), Brianne Moore (14 digs, seven points), Kaitlyn Arnold (eight digs, 11 points) and Maura Maendel (six kills, seven digs) all had big days for Mount Academy.
Boller, a junior, was named to the All-Tournament Team.
“She was fearless,” Mount Academy coach Sandy Mancuso-Lopez said.
The Eagles weren’t fazed by the defending champs. The Bobcats jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, but Mount rallied to tie at 14. Bainbridge then went on a 7-1 run and hung on win the first set.
The Bobcats took a 10-5 edge in the second set, but the Eagles eventually caught up at 19 and took the lead for good at 22-21.
“They girls played hard. I’m just really proud of their performance,” Lopez said. “It was a quality performance from them. I thought we hung in there.
“We struggled with double-hit calls,” she noted. “They called it tightly up there.”
The program, which wasn’t formed until last January, went 16-2 and won Section 9 and regional championships. The team loses four players to graduation, but only one starter. Boller will be a senior and Blough a junior.
“It capped a great season,” said Lopez, who expects the team to be hungry to return. “They know what it’s going to take to get to the next level.”