Northmor’s Briez Adams goes up for a hit against Mount Gilead on Tuesday.
Rob Hamilton | Morrow County Sentinel
After starting out 0-4 in a series of matches in which they often wound up on the short end of closely-contested sets, the Northmor Golden Knights were able to put it all together against visiting Mount Gilead on Tuesday.
Northmor picked up a three-set win over the Indians by scores of 25-10, 25-12 and 25-12 to improve to 1-4 on the year and even their KMAC record at 1-1.
“It was good that we came in and did our jobs tonight and focused and we were dialed in after our four losses,” said head coach Shelbie Wiseman.
For Mount Gilead and coach Lyndsay Wyeth, the big issue is consistency. The coach noted that the team had moments where it looked good, but would then suffer through an extended slump that allowed Northmor to pull away.
“Consistency is an issue,” she said. “We have highs and lows. I was just telling them we need to stay on our peak. We have really good moments and really bad moments.”
The second set epitomized that. After falling 25-10 in the first, the Indians got out to a strong start in the second and kept the score close for awhile. Olivia Long opened with two points. After the Golden Knights got two each from Lizzie Erlsten and Kallie Wright to take the lead, one point by MG’s Cassady Irwin would bring the Indians to within a 6-5 margin, but they would then go four straight offensive trips without scoring.
During that time, Northmor went on a run highlighted by three points from Erlsten and two from Makayla Sutton to open up an 18-9 lead they would not relinquish in picking up the win to go up 2-0 in the match.
“They drop in their attitudes and it’s hard to get out of the hole once we dig it,” said Wyeth. “We were in there talking about how we need to stay positive, make good plays right after an error and keep with it versus digging ourselves deeper in holes.”
Northmor then got out to a fast start in the third game. Mary Dean, who scored the final five points of the second set, tallied six in a row to turn a 5-2 advantage into an 11-2 margin. Erlsten would add four points late in the contest, while Wright picked up three more. While Faith White picked up two points with her team down 24-10, the Indians were not able to overcome that deficit.
“I think we came out knowing today we had to do our jobs,” said Wiseman. “I think we’ve had those losses and we didn’t want that to define us, so we picked it up and everybody did their job today and it was a whole team effort today.”
And after losing a four-set battle with Fredericktown the day before after winning the first set, the coach was happy with how her team responded at home against the Indians.
“Last night was a tough game,” said Wiseman. “That was a great team and we just bounced back today and after the game, the girls were ready to go today, so that was good.”
For Mount Gilead, after the first couple weeks of the season, Wyeth has seen some positives to build upon as the year progresses.
“We’ve seen some very good things,” she said. “We’ve had some very good hits and some good passes and we know the talent’s there. We’ve just got to figure out how to put it all together, but they’ve definitely shown major improvements since our scrimmages early on.”
Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS
