Posted: Sep 23, 2016
By John M. Sherrard
(WALNUT) After beginning the season with the best start in recent memory at 7-0, the host Mounties fell to top-ranked Grossmont, 27-25, 25-20, 25-19 Wednesday night.
"Absolutely, we played great, we loved it," said first-year coach Ali Carey-Oliver of playing Grossmont. "That's the best team by far that we've played, ...by far."
"It couldn't have been scripted any better that we played that team before conference."
Mt. SAC will begin South Coast Conference action on Friday hosting Chaffey College at 3:00 pm.
The Mounties (7-1) were led by sophomore outside hitter Erica Gumz (Chino Hills HS) with seven kills and 11 digs. Adding five kills each were sophomores Kaitlyn Partridge (Santiago HS) and Makenzie Thieme (Corona HS).
Sophomore setter Carolina Urquieta (La Puente HS) had a team-high 16 assists for the Mounties.
Hannah Miller of Grossmont led all players with 11 kills.
Mt. SAC, which is ranked 25th in the CCCAA state poll, had its chance to gain momentum in the later stages of the first set.
Leading most of the way, the Mounties, who had eight kills in the set, committed crucial service errors near the end of the set to allow the Griffins to take a lead and eventually fell by the two-point margin.
"Our serving errors really hurt us in that first game," Carey-Oliver said. "We had six of them. If we would cut them in half it would have been a different outcome."
In the second game, with Mt. SAC trying to draw even in the match, fell 25-20 and the Griffins finished off the sweep with a 25-19 final in the third.
"They (Grossmont) are a good team and are number one for a reason," said Alexandria Peterson, who also had a service ace.
"From the beginning we knew they were going to be loud and wanted to come out even stronger."
Peterson spent much of the match trying to defend Miller, who had numerous thunderous kill attempts (18).
"To me it's so much fun and I love those hard digs.
"This makes us want to play like we did in that first set all through conference and be ready to see them again (in So Cals)."
Freshman Jordon Wilson (Summit HS) and sophomore Haley English (Chino HS) added three kills each for Mt. SAC.
For more information contact Mt. SAC Sports Information at 909-274-4630.