Mounts Win Rivalry Rematch

They didn’t start the fire, but they sure did fan its flames.

The Ephrata and Elizabethtown girls volleyball teams rekindled their Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Two rivalry Tuesday night, with the visiting Mountaineers surviving a grueling fourth set to outlast the Bears 3-1.

Game scores for the match were 25-19, 23-25, 25-18 and 28-26. Trailing 23-19 in the fourth, the Mountaineers staged a hard-earned comeback to close out the match.

“This is always a big rivalry, so we were very driven,” said Ephrata senior middle Courtney Smith. “We just kind of wanted to give it our all. It’s really hot in here, so we were working to (avoid) a fifth set and end it as soon as we could.”

Both teams’ offenses heated up in the fourth, getting 18 kills apiece. Smith had nine of her match-high 27 kills in the frame, including four straight Ephrata points as the Mountaineers took leads of 25-24 and 26-25.

A kill by Bella Lutter helped the Bears knot the game, but Ephrata would put it away with successive points by Evelyn Banks, first on a block and then on a match-ending slam.

“Having two good middles on the team is great because it’s not just one big block,” Smith said. “Me and Evie have both been (playing) middle since freshman year.”

Despite an early Bears run in the opening set, Ephrata settled in and looked to control the match. But E-town showed plenty of fight in Game 2, getting kills from Ellia Spang and Chloe Merkt, plus an ace from Jacqueline Raybold, to knot the match at a game apiece.

“I like that they were aggressive, especially the first couple points of the first game,” Bears’ head coach Katrina Shelly said of her hitters. “I think that’s where we were able to work smarter rather than harder. They weren’t afraid to get up to the net with Ephrata’s big middles.”

But Ephrata regained its composure in the third set, closing on an 8-2 run. Setter Sofia Rios (45 assists) capped the set with an ace. Olivia Horst added 22 digs and Chloe Saylor had 17 digs for the Mounts.

The two teams, who finished as co-champions last season, will meet again on Oct. 5 at Ephrata. Until then, they’ll have to navigate a crowded race in order to maintain their title.

Next up for Ephrata is a home match with Manheim Central on Thursday, while Elizabethtown heads to Solanco. Both teams will take part in the annual Knights Joust tournament at Hempfield on Saturday.

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