Indians fall to Capital Christian

This time it started out so well for the Marysville High Volleyball team, but it ended in the same heartbreak.

After looking strong in their first game against visiting Capital Christian, the Indians were outhit, outserved and simply outplayed in a 3-2 Golden Empire League loss on Tuesday at Lesta Joubert Gymnasium.

Despite displaying a valiant level of determination and heart, the young Marysville squad - which features no active seniors and makes no substitutions — looked overmatched by a talent-rich Cougars squad that was able to rebound after losses in games one and four and parlay its' efforts into a 17-25, 25-18, 25-17, 24-26, 15-7 victory.

For the Indians (11-14-1, 7-4), the feeling is all too familiar. On Oct. 2, Marysville fell to the Cougars (10-11, 8-3) in five after coming back from losses in their first two games. In this contest, it was the Cougars that played catch-up before settling down and exploiting the inexperience of the Indians.

"It's all about focus," Marysville coach Jenny Dove said. "It's not about getting down, it's about growing up."

For the Cougars, it was all about the postseason.

"They knew they had to win this game to go to the playoffs," Capital Christian coach Emily Sandborn said about entering the deciding game.

And it was exactly how the Cougars played. In the deciding game, Capital Christian shook off the momentum lost from the Indians' rally to win game four and come out and absolutely dominate game five."

"We said 'you're going to get to eight before they get to three,'" Cougars assistant Allie Jacobs said.

Capital Christian did that and then some by starting on an 8-1 run.

In the first game, Marysville looked calm and poised in forming offensive attacks and returning volleys from a contingent of hard-hitting Capital Christian players. Using the serving skills of Alex Tanner, the Indians went on a 5-0 run to take a 8-5 lead that would provide enough of a buffer to go up 1-0.

But then the growing pains of the young Indians squad began to show as the next two games were mired by Marysville miscues. Combined with the stellar serving ability of the Cougars, the Indians started to look confused and frustrated as the tone of the match completely changed away from their favor.

In game 2 it was a 7-1 run that essentially put the Indians away, and in the third game it was a 9-1 run fueled by Mo Harris and Emelie Parker's prowess behind the line.

"They over-think, they all think too much," Dove said.

The fourth game started out in the exact same fashion as the Cougars climbed to a 5-0 lead. But the Indians battled back against the Cougars, who started to suffer from the same afflictions that the Indians were suffering from earlier in the match.

"Mentally, we were down a little bit," Sandborn said.

Haley Harris and Tanner both tallied nine kills for the Indians and Danielle Ferrari tallied 20 assists for the Indians, who Dove remains determined to help foster toward maturity.

"We're going to get there," she said. "If we don't, I'm going to die trying."