Mount Everett Fights but Falls to Ware at Home

SHEFFIELD, Mass. -- Outsized, outnumbered but never outworked, the Mount Everett volleyball team Tuesday was outpointed by Ware in four sets.

 

A net violation call at 23-23 in the fourth set took away an apparent Eagles point and allowed the visitors to escape with a 25-17, 18-25, 25-18, 25-23 victory.

 

Alisa Rathbun had six aces and three kills, and Laynie Mullen recorded 15 assists and a pair of kills for Mount Everett.

 

But after rallying from a first set loss and fighting back from a four-point deficit to briefly lead in the fourth, the Eagles ran out of gas one day after going to five sets against Mount Anthony.

 

“We’ve been showing [fight] all year,” Eagles coach Denny Sullivan said. “As you can see, my bench, we have two girls on the bench. We’re fighting every game. We played three five-setters already this year, and this was a four-setter.

 

“You can see, we didn’t have any tall kids. We’re small. We’re doing the best we can.”

 

Mount Everett’s best was nearly enough to overcome a Ware side that came in with a 4-1 record.

 

But the size of Ware’s Lilly Kibbe, Shelby Tweedie and Dina Legacy on the front line proved too much, repeatedly blocking the Eagles for points.

 

“Ware is a pretty good team,” Sullivan said. “They bump, set, spike. That’s the thing to do. And they block. I don’t have anybody who’s athletic enough to get up there and block. We’ve got to do that. We’ve got to get up there and block them back.

 

“But we’re fighting. That’s all I can ask.”

 

Ware used a couple of late runs to break open a back-and-forth first set, earning four straight points on Jess Burke’s serve to put away the set on a Tweedie kill.

 

In the second set, the Eagles jumped ahead on Rathbun’s serve.

 

She took the ball at 6-6 and served five points, the last two on aces, to give the Eagles an 11-6 margin they never relinquished.

 

When the rotation came back around to Rathbun, she served three straight to get the lead to 22-14 in a run capped by a Mullen kill. And three serves later, Tori Seward notched a kill to put away the set.

 

The Eagles fell behind midway through the third on four straight Chelsea Orszulak serve to make it 12-8. Mount Everett never got closer than two points the rest of the set, which ended on a Legacy block at 24-18.

 

In the third set, it was 12-8 when Faith Angell took over for Mount Everett.

 

First, her block got a side out for the Eagles. She then served five straight points -- including one of her five aces -- and made a big dig to keep the Eagles in a point they won at 12-12.

 

Angell gave up the serve with Mount Everett ahead, 14-13, but Ware won the next three points to retake the lead.

 

The visitors stayed ahead until Lizzie Sarnacki got the serve at 17-21. She served five straight points, including two aces, in a run that saw kills from Angell and Tori Seward.

 

Ware regained the serve at 22-22, and Mount Everett never led again. An ace by Norah Ayers on match point sent her team home happy.

 

“It’s tough being a small school, but what can we do,” Sullivan said of the fatigue that set in for his squad. “We do the best we can. They fight. They don’t quit.”

 

Mount Everett Friday goes to Lenox.