Girls Volleyball: Mounties Bounce Back, Winning Three Straight After One Loss To The Townies

East Providence travelled to Mount St. Charles for a well-matched Division I girls volleyball match-up on Wednesday, but watched an early lead slip away as the MSC girls battled upwards through some tight games.

The Townies jumped out to a score of 8-4 early on, but that lead was quickly erased by the Mounties who tied the score at eight apiece. The Townies stayed poised and played clean volleyball, staying away from errors and playing tough defense. This coupled with the erratic hitting of the Mounties led to a 19-13 lead for East Providence.

Serves by Kim D'Alessandro enabled the Mounties to once again shrink the lead down to two, but the Townies rallied and put game one away on a kill down the line from Leah Drolet on a quick-set. The Townies took game one, 25-20.

The level of play heightened in game two, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Offensively, Mounties star Kelsey Lace got moving, helping Mount St. Charles jump out to an early 9-3 lead. 

The Townies seemed to lose their edge, making some mental mistakes, and soon found themselves trailing by six. East Providence continued to struggle throughout the rest of the game with service errors and hitting errors accompanying tentative defensive play. The Mounties finished up game two with more shots from Lace and went on to win 25-16.

In the pivotal game three of the match, both teams flaunted their abilities, really delivering a show. The game was filled with energy, hustle, and well-played volleyball. All of these characteristics could be seen during the 8-8 point, which had spikes, dives, digs, and a ton of hustle.

The lead see-sawed, with both teams trading kills, blocks, and errors. Big hitting once again from Lace and her teammate Danielle Lippacher, however, were ultimately too much for the Townies to handle. Lippacher ended game three on an ace to win 25-18.

Mount St. Charles ran away with game four behind more hitting and serving from Lace and Lippacher. Lippacher would end the match on a kill through two Townie blockers. Mounties won the game 25-12 and won the match 3-1.

"This was a tough first match for both teams, but I thought in the third game we started to be more aggressive, which is our style," said Mount St. Charles Coach Josh D'Abate after the match. "That helped us out a bit. And Kelsey [Lace] and Danielle [Lippacher], our two seniors on the floor, really stepped it up for us."