CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Mount St. Joseph women's volleyball team has played five set thrillers in three of their last four matches, coming out on the winning side in all three matches. This one came over Hanover at home on Wednesday. The win moved the Lions to 10-12 overall and 5-1 in HCAC play, they currently stand at second place in the league with three matches remaining.
For the second match in a row the Mount dropped the opening set of the match. Hanover led the set most of the way, stretching their lead out to a set-high five points at 21-16. The Mount roared back to tie the set at 21-all, but the Panthers finished on a 5-3 run to secure the opening set.
The second set was dominated by the Lions, after trailing 1-0 they quickly gained the lead and never trailed the rest of the way. The would take set two 25-13 with the final kill coming on a beautiful dump by
Jasmine Butler.
The Lions would take set three, again in dominant fashion 25-17 again the final point came on a dump from Butler. The fourth set was much more tightly contested, with the Lions holding the advantage through the early portion of the set. With the set tied at 13 all, Hanover went on a 4 point run that proved to be the difference in the end.
With the match tied at two sets a piece the teams moved to a winner-take-all fifth set. The set was tight throughout with neither team leading by more than one point, until a three point run put the Lions up 11-9. The Panthers answered back with a three point run of their own to go back ahead by one. From there the set was tied at 12, 13 and 14 but the Lions got a huge kill from
Aubrey Miranda and a block by Butler and
Hannah Justice to secure the win.
Emma Sicking led the Lions offensive attack with 22 kills, leading a trio of double-figure attackers. Joining her in double-figures was
Hannah Graves and Miranda, each of which had 17 kills. Butler dished out 59 assists, registered 17 digs and 4 kills. Four different Lions had double-figure digs, Butler and
Grace Wilking each had 17, Graves added 15 and
Lyndsey Stephenson had 12.
UP NEXT:
The Lions will be on the road this Saturday, heading to take on Berea in their first HCAC matchup in school history. The match is scheduled to get underway at 2:00 pm in Berea, KY.
