Lady Mt’neer volleyballers win own tournament over weekend

Mt’neer football falls to Cassville in hard fought battle, looks for victory at Parkview Friday
 
The Mt. Vernon High School volleyball team played seven games last week winning every single one.
On Saturday, Oct. 4, the Lady Mt’neers hosted their own volleyball tournament and took home the championship. It started with pool play, where Mt. Vernon knocked off Aurora in two sets, 25-13 and 25-18.
Ziah Schmutz had 12 kills and digs, Ruth Fish had 11 assists, Savannah Dampf added six kills and two blocks and Camryn Cornell ended the game with six kills and two aces.
In their second match of the day, Mt. Vernon defeated Parkview in two sets, 25-20 and 25-13. Cornell had eight kills, and Schmutz ended the game with six kills and nine assists.
In the final game of pool play, the Lady Mt’neers easily dispatched Rogers in two sets, 25-19 and 25-17. Averee Swillum led with nine digs; Fish had 10 assists and Dampf had seven kills and four blocks.
In the semifinal game, Mt. Vernon took on Glendale and defeated them in two sets, 25-23 and 25-18. Schumutz led with 11 kills and had 13 assists, Cornell added 11 kills and seven digs, Swillum chipped in 13 digs and one ace and Fish ended the game with 15 assists and three kills.
The Lady Mt’neers knocked off Branson in the championship game in two sets, 25-18 and 25-23. Schmutz was the leader with 13 kills, 13 assists and two aces, Cornell had 10 kills and six digs, Swillum added 11 digs, Fish had 13 assists and Dampf ended the game with five kills.
“I’m really proud of the way this group has been preparing to win in the last few weeks,” said Head Coach Bridgett Schmutz. “They have come together and are playing good volleyball at the right time. I’m hopefully that this tournament will be a turning point in our season.”
Mt. Vernon hosted and defeated McDonald County on Thursday, Oct. 2 in three sets, 25-8, 25-16 and 25-21.
Dampf had 10 kills and two blocks, Cornell added 10 kills, Schmutz led with 14 kills and also had 13 assists and three aces, Fish led with 19 assists, Swillum had nine digs, and four aces and Claire Hale had 10 digs and two aces.
The Lady Mountaineers started the week by traveling to East Newton on Tuesday, Sept. 20 in three sets, 25-15, 26-24 and 25-19.
Cornell led with 18 kills and added 11 digs, Schmutz led with 18 assists and also had 13 kills, Fish led with 18 assists and 17 digs, Hale chipped in 13 digs and two aces and Swillum ended the game with 12 digs.
“We are challenging ourselves every day in practice,” said Schmutz. “So that when we get into game situations we feel like we’ve already been in those positions to make the plays that need to be made. Hopefully we are peaking at the right time”
Mt. Vernon is 16-6-2 on the season and were scheduled to host Aurora last night before heading to Cassville tomorrow night.

Football
The Mt. Vernon High School football team headed to Cassville on Friday, Oct. 2 and came home with a 39-28 loss.
Cassville took an early 14-0 first quarter lead before the Mt’neers answered back with a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-6. The Wildcats would add another touchdown to lead 21-6 at the half.
Mt. Vernon scored twice in the second quarter, but Cassville also added two scores to build their lead to 31-20 by the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Mt’neers would add their final score but Cassville would answer to win the game by 11 points.
Mt’neer Hunter Dawson finished the game 17-29 for 119 yards and a touchdown, Coy Felton had five catches for 67 yards and a 32-yard score, and Hunter Conway had 13 carries for 128 yards and two touchdowns, one from 50 yards and a one-yard run.
“It was definitely a hard-fought game,” said Mt. Vernon head coach Tom Cox. “We didn’t tackle well defensively, and we were inconsistent on offense. We did, however, battle to the very end. Our guys never gave up, and we are always going to give it everything we’ve got.”
Mt. Vernon is now 2-4 on the season and are scheduled to play at Parkview this Friday night. With the loss, the Mt’neers are now in fifth place in the Class 3, District 6 standings with 27.49 points. Seneca leads the district with 53,39 points, followed by Cassville (35.36), Hollister (35.29), Aurora (28.85), Mt. Vernon, Reeds Spring (17.83) and East Newton (17).