By: Alex LaCoste (January 10, 2003)

The Mason JV volleyball team put another win behind them Wednesday night against the inexperienced Manassas Park Cougars. In what was the shortest game thus far this season, lasting only 20 minutes, the Mustangs conquered Manassas Park 15-3, 15-2 on their home court. 
 

Brittany Head and Christie Ankeney practice volleys and passing in preparation for their upcoming game against Strasburg Wednesday night away. (Photo by Alex Lacoste)	Alex Lacoste gets set for a bump as teammate Mariam Alshagra encourages her. Behind them are most of the team that now stands 4-0 for the season.

In contrast, the air had never been tenser than it was at Friday night’s game when both Mason volleyball teams played Rappahanock High School, a win for JV, but a tough loss for varsity. It took 3 games for JV to pull out their toughest win with a score of 7-15, 15-10, 15-13. 

After the first-game loss both JV coaches along with the players knew that in order to pull out a win that the team would really need to communicate better than they had in game one. 

After a two-week break, and only one practice, the team took a while to get back in the groove, which was noticeable in game one. 

"When game two began it was almost as if a new team had taken the court," said Mason head coach Kristin Kurowski. "The team really came together in games two and three."

Game two went back and forth, with very strong bump, set, spike, rallies from both teams. With the score nearly tied, Mason player Sabrina Witney "took it home" with 3 steady serves to finish out game two.

Rappahanock was leading most of game three with Mason trailing 13-7. Mason’s strong defensive play held the Panthers at 13 points, winning the next 8 points, ending the game with an ace by Mason server freshman Alex LaCoste. 

"So far this season has just been phenomenal," said an enthusiastic Kurowski, basking in her team’s 4-0 start that has included a majority of matches that have come down to the wire, including three-game matches over Clarke County, Brentsville, as well as Rappahanock 

The team is young, with the majority of players being in 8^th grade and only two players returning from last year’s season. First year coaches Kurowski and Kuder both agree "We have never seen a team pull together so well. Their heart and spirit are an inspiration to all."

The Lady Mustangs take on Strasburg Wednesday night, away, at 6:30.