by Kinsey Phipps

The day didn’t start out so promising for the Mustang varsity volleyball girls at the Nevada tournament on Sept. 27. PCM got seventh out of 12 teams but won the consolation bracket.
The first game of the day didn’t go so well, as the girls fell to Iowa Falls 0-2. The game went 21-13 and 21-11.
After that was another loss to Ballard 1-2. The girls lost the first set 21-19. They fought back and won the second set 22-20, but they lost the last set 9-15.
The third match against Atlantic was PCM’s first win of the day, as they went 2-0. The girls pulled out 21-13 and 21-17.
Crushing a win in their fourth game against Newton put the girls in better spirits when they went 2-0 with scores of 25-17 and 25-15.
For the last game of the day, all the players fought hard to win the consolation bracket. The Mustangs played hard and succeeded in winning 2-1. The match started off slow with them losing the first set 19-25. However, the Mustangs came back, winning the last two sets 25-19 and 15-10.
“We started off slow and tired. By the end of the day we were rolling and had a lot more energy and excitement,” senior Courtney Van Houweling said.
Leading off the day with kills was Van Houweling with 48. Van Houweling also had 56 digs throughout the day. Sophomore Jayci Vos had a total of 55 assists. Sophomore Katie Vande Wall had two blocks. Leading off with serves was senior Emma Williams, as she went 48-50 with seven aces.
“As the day went on, we did a better job of cutting down on errors, which is a big key for us. After a slow start, I was really proud of how the girls turned around their intensity and effort,” Head Coach Mollie Keitges said. “Every girl on the team made important contributions throughout the day. It was a great team effort to get some wins.”