MARYVILLE – That's how you win your first!
Maryville rallied from two sets down – including a tough 25-9 loss in the second set – to steal a 3-2 victory over Methodist here Friday night on Day 1 of the Maryville College Labor Day Classic. The scores were 19-25, 9-25, 25-21, 25-18 and 15-7.
The Scots lost 3-1 to Sewanee and appeared to be headed for a doubleheader defeat before they turned the tables on the Monarchs, who earlier in the day had defeated Huntingdon 3-1. Maryville and Huntingdon are picked to finish in a tie for second this year in the Collegiate Conference of the South race.
"We switched through a couple of lineups and then I had to switch my coaching style a little bit," MC interim head coach
Brienna Laskowski said. "But really, it was the girls just finding confidence in each other."
Laskowski said that learning to work off first-year setters can be tough, but it wasn't too tough for a young but obviously talented squad.
"Once they found their connection and then the first game day jitters went away, they found their groove and rolled with it," she said.
Triple-Double on Day 1
Addie Smith on her first day of collegiate volleyball turned in a triple-double against Methodist. The Jonesborough product posted 10 kills, 24 assists and 14 digs. Junior
Reese Bailey had a career-high 14 kills while attacking at a .480 clip. She added five block assists.
Sophomore
Cailin Mastropasqua sparkled for her first career double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs, while first-year
Dakota Vaiese added a double-double of her own with 20 assists and 11 digs.
Ally Sokolow was the digs leader with 23, while Smith's 24 assists were a team high.
Maryville in the opening match lost 25-12, 25-22, 16-25 and 25-20 to a Sewanee side that also defeated Brevard 3-0.
Smith just missed a triple-double in that one, finishing with nine kills, 14 assists and 21 digs. Vaiese had a double-double with 13 assists and 12 digs, and so did Sokolow with 10 assists and 17 digs.
"It's always nice starting with a big reverse sweep," Laskowski said of that late victory against Methodist. "It shows the girls early on that they are capable of fighting through adversity, so now they know how to do that. Now the next time we are in that situation, hopefully we come out on top again."
