By Milla Butler
Down 2-7 in the fifth set against their rival team, the Blue Hill Bobcats, the Mustangs needed to find a way to get their momentum back. Head coach Shelby Rupprecht called a timeout to get the team to relax and take a deep breath. She reminded the girls that they had battled too hard to give up against this team and that they knew where their open spots on the court were – they just needed to start hitting them. Good coaching from Rupprecht and a little more stamina from the Mustangs got the team up and moving again. After this intermission, the Mustangs came out an entirely different team. Amazing defense by senior Sophie Butler and juniors Sophie Schmidt and MaKenna Karr, multiple kills by seniors Macy Parr and Emma Schmidt, and some hard serves by senior McKenna Pankoke gave the Mustangs the boost they needed. After going back and forth in the set, the score was 13-14 in the Mustangs’ favor- the possible last play of the night. The gym was full of anticipation when the play started and freshman Libby Soucek made a crucial save; the ball was sailed over by Emma Schmidt, and just barely making it over the net, the ball dropped to the floor on Blue Hill’s side. The Mustangs took the game in an intense five-set match (25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 17-25, 15-13).
The first two sets were neck-in-neck. The Mustangs took the opening set 25-23, led significantly by back-row play from Sophie Schmidt. On the night, Schmidt tallied up 44 digs, and 40 serve receptions, with only one receiving error. Also contributing significantly defensively were Emma Schmidt with 30 digs and Karr with 29. Despite falling in a close second set, the Mustangs rallied to win the third set by six points. Off of a combined 39 assists from Emma Schmidt and Libby Soucek, the Silver Lake middle blockers led the Mustangs’ offense. Karr led the team with 12 kills, and senior Katy Soucek had 11 of her own. The Bobcats took the fourth set by 8 points, which left the fifth set match up for grabs.
Commenting on what’s always one of the most anticipated games of the season, Rupprecht says, “Going into the game, I knew it would be a tough one because it’s always a mental game against them. We consistently talked about staying focused and controlling our emotions. We also talked about working to keep the momentum on our side of the court and not losing our energy when things weren’t going our way.” The Mustangs have a huge week of volleyball ahead of them, taking on the Shelton Bulldogs on Thursday and competing in the Loomis tournament on Saturday. Rupprecht comments, “I know we’re always tired after a long game, but this is a group that fights. They really want to win, so I have the confidence in them and know they will work, even with many games this week. Without a lot of practice time to prepare, we’re going to have to really focus on the things we struggled with and try to be better moving forward.”