Local Sports

Early momentum subsides for MC

LEWISTOWN--Mifflin County battled the best it could, but ultimately fell to rival Cumberland Valley by the final score of 3-1 in a Mid-Penn Conference volleyball game on Tuesday night at Mifflin County High School.

"We're beyond proud of the girls, we've been aiming as a team obviously for growth the past few years -- this is a young team -- we only have two seniors, a junior and the rest are underclassmen so for them to perform at the level that they performed at tonight was probably the best that we've ever seen them play," Huskies coach Krystena Mayo said. "Especially against Cumberland Valley, we're really proud of them."

Things looked pretty even between both teams in the opening set of the match as neither Mifflin County or Cumberland Valley were able to pull ahead of one another. In fact, whenever one team did manage to get some momentum going, the other team quickly responded with a run of its own.

The Huskies managed to hold on to an early lead, but late in the set with the score at 14-13, the Eagles began to soar, scoring the next 10 points in the set behind the solid serving of senior Jordan Thompson who had three aces during that run to close out Mifflin County, 25-13.

"The first set we were kind of getting into the swing of things, we were able to connect a lot with Cumberland Valley, we started to become aware of our open spots, where we could make plays and kind of come through with the plays," Mayo said. "So we were proud of that start and I think the girls started getting into the mindset that they can play competitively with them."

Mifflin County answered with a big second set and started off by scoring the first three points of the set before handing the ball over to the Eagles.

The Huskies held control of the lead for the majority of the set despite the intense fire power that Cumberland Valley was dishing out. Seniors Audrey Jordan and Kashia Smith were hanging tough for Mifflin County along with sophomore Dakota Hershberger carried the Huskies in the set with Hershberger clinching the second set on an ace to win the set, 25-19.

"That was all mindset, we've been talking to the girls a lot about team comradery and making sure their mentality was working as a team and keeping each other hyped up and it definitely showed in that set," Mayo said. "When they feel good about how they're playing, they connect with each other as a team, they seem to perform much better."

But then things started to go a little south for Mifflin County late in the third set as the Huskies managed to hang around with Cumberland Valley for a bit in the set, but problems occurred late and allowed the Eagles to take advantage and pull ahead to a 25-16 victory.

The problems continued for the Huskies in the fourth and final set of the night as any time they were able to get control of the ball, they immediately gave it right back to Cumberland Valley who then slowly but surely began to pull away before eventually closing the match out with a 25-9 win.

"I think we beat ourselves, the morale started to decrease and that's something that we've seen here in Mifflin County for years, where we kinda get into a rut of we're making mistakes, we have to critique them now," Mayo said. "Player's mindset just kind of became a downward spiral. I think that's pretty much where they got caught. Not any less playing wise, I think they played well, it's just the mindset that can get you."

Senior Jordan had an ace, nine kills and six digs. Fellow senior Smith had an ace, two kills, 14 assists and a dig. Sophomore Hershberger collected an ace, nine kills and six digs. Sophomore Taylor Seese had two aces and five digs.

"Kashia Smith, Audrey Jordan and Dakota (Hershberger) are our three returning players, so obviously their skillset is phenomenal," Mayo said. "But to add Taylor (Seese) in as we like to call her, MVP, it was her first debut on a varsity court. She was playing all around and it just meshed well. It worked, it was a good flow between the four of them so we're really proud."

Mifflin County falls to (0-7) and will look to get its first win of the season on Monday as the Huskies will travel to face Cedar Cliff.

Cumberland Valley 3, Mifflin County 1

SCORES: 25-13, 19-25, 25-16, 25-9