Mantachie uses strong attack to sweep Booneville
Sep. 12—MANTACHIE — The No. 7 school in Northeast Mississippi added another dominant win to an already impressive resume.
The Mantachie Mustangs stayed strong at the point of attack and opened up Region 1-3A play with a 3-0 sweep of the Booneville Blue Devils (25-11, 25-16, 25-10) on Tuesday night.
As a team, the Mustangs had 40 kills. Seniors Bailey Coker and Hailee Spigner were tied for the team lead with 10 apiece.
"We hit the ball really well tonight," coach Kristi Montgomery said. "It's probably the best we've hit it all year."
The Mustangs held a one-point lead to open up the match, then used a 15-4 run to make it 21-19. After some back and forth, Coker ended the set with a kill.
The senior credited her chemistry with setter Ramsey Montgomery for her performance.
"We've been working together since we were freshmen," Coker said. "We're communicating good, and she knows where to put the ball."
Mantachie got out to a 7-2 start in the second set, with six of those points coming from kills. Booneville (6-9, 0-2) took advantage of mistakes to narrow the deficit, but the Mustangs used a 6-2 run to take the set.
In the third set, the Blue Devils started to get things going, eventually taking a 9-8 lead. However, three kills by Coker in four serves started a 17-1 run from the Mustangs to win the set and complete the sweep of the match.
Montgomery was also impressed with a defense that kept the Blue Devils under 20 points in each set.
"We covered a lot of the tips. We covered a lot of the blocks," she said. "I thought we hustled to most balls."
Mantachie (13-0, 1-0) has lost just two sets so far this season. The Mustangs have swept 11 of their 13 opponents thus far.
Booneville coach Molly Fowler felt that a lot of the damage done to her team was self-inflicted.
"We had 39 unforced errors," she said. "You can't win a ballgame doing that."
Both teams return to play on Thursday for region action. Mantachie travels to Belmont and Booneville travels to Iuka to face Alcorn Central.
