Lady ‘Cat Volleyball Recovers Late for 3-2 Win over Penns Valley

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – It took a little longer than planned, but the Central Mountain Lady Wildcat volleyball team pulled off a 3-2 win over visiting Penns Valley.

It was neck-and-neck in the the first game with the Lady ‘Cats trailing Penns Valley by a couple of points most of the way. Then late in the game, CM held a 21-16 lead, then allowed the Lady Rams to battle back and edge the hosts 27-25.

The second game was more of the same with a see-saw battle, this time PV outlasted the Lady Wildcats, 25-21.

Then Central Mountain dug a little deeper and began their climb back with a decisive 25-14 win in game 3 and 25-18 in game 4. However, Penns Valley had no intentions of leaving quietly as they battled intently in the final tie-breaker game.

The final game was much as the first four with both teams battling, never allowing their opponent to advance out of range. Finally, with the score at 13-12, the Lady ‘Cats put together a 2-point run to seal the hard-fought victory.

“Obviously we were disappointed and frustrated after the first game,” said CM head coach, Scott Garman, “They kept it together and came back in the way I knew they were capable of and they are finally able to prove to themselves they can do that.”

“When a program hasn’t had a winning season in a while, it a learning to win. They have to prove it to themselves,” Garman explained, “The two words I’m using with the team this year is confidence and consistency. Confidence in their abilities, confidence in each other, confidence in themselves and the team. Consistency in doing the little things well. Not shooting ourselves in the foot. Not making unforced errors. Tonight, once we got rid of those things, and once we stopped those unforced errors, it certainly went in our favor.

Evie Rembold and Abby Brinker had 2 aces each and Loni Duck with 1 ace. McKenzie Hanna led CM with 5 kills followed by Duck with 4, Rembold and Felicia Baney with 2 kills each and Kyleigh McDermit with 1 kill. Duck and Mallory Eck had 8 assists each while Abby Lee recorded 5 assists followed by Hanna and Rembold with 4 assists each and 2 assists for Baney.

The Lady Wildcats will be off until Monday, Sept. 9 when they will travel to West Branch.