Lady Hounds missing grit at end

FORT MADISON – The Fort Madison Lady Hounds' volleyball team needs to find another gear.
That was the assessment from Head Coach Kelly Knustrom after the girls dropped a four-setter to Mt. Pleasant 19-25, 28-26, 18-25, 16-25 in Southeast Conference action.
The Lady Hounds were in every set of the match with multiple tied up scores throughout, but couldn’t find a way to push through except in the second set where they needed some extra points to get it done.
“We’re not used to being in close games, but we we're right there, which is what we talked about during breaks,” Knustrom said following the loss “Point-for-point. Stay in it, stay in it, stay in it. But then we have to find the guts at the end and then we can finish. I think that is the next step.”
They found the guts after dropping the first set and pushing the second set into extra points, but the third and fourth sets saw Fort Madison fade after 15 or 16 points. In set three, the Hounds and Panthers were tied at 16, but Mt. Pleasant went on a 9-2 run aided by seven errors from Fort Madiosn, four of which were attack errors. The Panthers had just two kills in the stretch and a block.
The fourth set was very similar with Fort Madison trailing 15-16, but seven straight errors including three hitting errors, and a string of six points from Mt. Pleasant’s Alexis Rios, put the game and match out of reach.

Knustrom wasn’t upset with the way the Hounds played per se, saying they tried to stay to the game plan.
“I think they stayed pretty true to our game plan, but I think we shifted our mindset a little and became so concerned with what's open as hitters,” Knustrom said. “Our mindset then turned to going off swinging. Like, if we're going down, we're going down swinging.”
Dayonna Davis had 37 attacks in the game, but Mt. Pleasant routinely had a dig for Davis’ velocity.  Her attacks resulted in 11 kills, but nine errors.  Lyla Smith was 18 of 23 attacking with seven kills.  Jayce Fullenkamp led the way at the net with 13 kills on 19 attacks.
“I thought games one, two, and three, we did a really good job. We just needed to weather the storm. I felt that Jayce swung well and had some big points in the middle. That’s where she’s really comfortable.  Lyla really can swing anywhere outside, right side, middle, and Alaina's been working hard. She's been coming in the mornings and getting extra reps, but I can see the confidence for her building which is important because I want to think that we're building something that's going to be sustainable over years, not just this year,” Knustrom said.
Kylie Lumino led the Hounds defensively with 22 digs. Davis had 19.  Davis was also 11-14 serving with four aces. Sydney McEntee had three blocks. Jordyn Grisham had 34 assists on the night.
The Hounds fall to 7-8 overall and 0-3 in conference play and are off until Monday’s Holy Trinity Classic featuring eight schools including Central Lee.