Lady Hounds come up big on Senior Night

Normally a team that relies on its back row defense and serving, the Lady Hounds had all aspect of their game working Thursday night.

In arguably their most complete performance of conference play, Maryville delivered a convincing a 25-15, 25-18 win over Savannah on Senior Night at MHS.

Maryville built leads of at least seven points in each set and never trailed after the first three points in either one.

The Hounds improved to 10-2-2 overall and 3-1 in the MEC, remaining a game back of conference co-leaders LeBlond and Smithville. Savannah fell to 11-8 overall.

"I think we played really well tonight as far as everything, passing and hitting," said Maryville head volleyball coach Lori Klaus. "It all kind of came together tonight."

Offensively, the Hounds produced 23 kills and hit at a .170 clip—one of their best marks of the season.

Senior outside Sara Knowles led another balanced effort with seven booming kills on .238 hitting. She also had seven defensive digs and two aces.

"She was on fire," said Klaus. "She has been hitting really well in practice and just really working on her approach, getting her feet to the ball and finding the top of it. It was really fun to see her play that well tonight on Senior Night."

Junior middle Gabby Church delivered six kills, Anny Van de Ven climbed the middle for four and rightside Chelsea Byland added three more.

Setter Alyssa Stiens picked up 14 of 15 assists.

Serving-wise, the Hounds totaled seven aces, led by Aubrey Kimble with three. Jessa Stiens led the back row effort with 16 digs. Byland's seven tied her with Knowles for second on the team.

"We were aggressive on serving and didn't miss very many," said Klaus. "Defensively, we read their hitters well. We practice defense every single day, quick transitions, reading the hitter. And from summer until now, we've just gotten so much better. We did a great job tonight."

Maryville took control of the first set with a four-point run that included two Knowles aces that spread their lead out to 13-6.

Savannah closed within three at 14-11, but the Hounds answered with three straight to go back up six.

Maryville held at least a four point lead from the on and closed the set out with four straight points.

In the second set, Maryville opened up a 12-5 lead with a run of six straight points. Two came on Knowles kills and three others on Savage errors.

Savannah cut the deficit down to four twice before the Hounds put together a five-point surge that blew the lead out to 21-12. Still down nine, Savannah made a last-ditch effort to get within five at 22-17, forcing a Maryville timeout.

The Savages scored one more point after the timeout to make it 22-18.

Knowles ended the run with a kill and ended the match two points later with another one.

"Our coverage was terrible tonight," said Savannah head coach Deb Couldry.

Senior Emma Peterson led the Savages with five kills.

Maryville plays in the Bishop LeBlond Tournament Saturday.