UNION CITY – Mississinawa Valley overcame a slow start and nearly found themselves down two sets before rallying late in set two, then finished strong defeating Houston on senior night.
“They didn’t start very well, but they finished well, they don’t give up too easily. So, I’m pretty proud of them for that,” Mississinawa Valley coach Nancy Whitted said.
The Hawks dropped the first set to Houston and then trailed 21-14 in the second set prompting a timeout by Whitted to allow her team to collect themselves.
“I didn’t really have much of a strategy and sometimes our girls get into their own heads, and it just doesn’t matter what I say … but I wanted to allow them an opportunity to rally one another because they have such a close relationship with each other. I did mention to our seniors that this is their last game on this floor, and I think the other girls really wanted to win this for them,” Whitted added.
Very little might have been said … but it seemed to be enough to spark Mississinawa as they fought back overcoming a big deficit and then going on to win the set after several tiebreakers.
“Grit, what can I say our girls played with grit, it took a lot of guts being down a set and then down as much as we were in the 2nd set and come back and win it,” Whitted stated.
The level of play by the Blackhawks elevated to another level as they took the next two sets to win the non-conference match against a stubborn Wildcats team.
They did it by having strong service game and strong play at the net.
We were really good serving tonight, sometimes we struggle, either on or off good serves really helped us in our hits and kills and they were really on as well,” Whitted praised.
The Hawks were led by their three seniors, Brenna Price, MacKenzea Townsend and Makenna Guillozet and it choked up coach Witted when it came time to talk about them
“I’m think I’m going to cry, I’ve never had players like them as dedicated as they are,” coach said.
Brenna has been like the backbone of our team, she’s give us that quiet strength is what I call it, she’s not real loud on the court … but the girls look to her for guidance, you know and her work ethic is far above any other player I think I’ve ever had,” Whitted complimented.
Then we’ve had McKenzie, on the other end of the spectrum and I the kids feed off her energy, so when she’s up they are up or if she is down they are down. I tell her they feed off you and I think that really helped her tonight. Kinsey on of kind, a warrior,” Whitted
Makenna has made such tremendous progress her setting skills have improved so much just from last year. It just her quickness. I call her speedy she is fast enough to get in the right spot as long as the girls get the ball up high enough she can get to it and get us set-up in good spots. She has had a record season for assist, which before tonight she was 401 breaking the old mark by Krista Miller of 383.
I’m going to miss these 3 young ladies, we still have a few games left in the season along with the tournament and looking forward to what we can do there,” Whitted concluded.
One thing is certain, the 2023 volleyball team is having a great year and is just one game out of 1st place with a big game tonight at Preble Shawnee who is leading the league with just one loss.
Mississinawa currently is 14-6 overall and 8-2 in the conference.
