By: Alex LaCoste (January 24, 2003)

Wednesday night’s game was the 3^rd loss in a row for Mason’s JV volleyball team, falling hard to Clarke County 15-13, 15-8.Spectators were on the edge of their seats as Mason gained momentum, evening out the early lead that Clarke County had gained. It was apparent early on that there was a lack of communication among the team, but communication wasn’t the only thing holding the team back.

The Mustangs were taken by surprise by the hard serves, and the nothing-hits-the-floor attitude that Clarke County brought to the game. Clarke County and Mason played for the 1^st time about a month ago, and after a 3 game match, Mason came out on top.

There were many strong points of the night, along with long rallies and strong defensive and offensive play. This was seen by eighth grader Katie Turner, with awesome defensive play seen by freshman Maura Ehmer. 

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"Our three biggest areas of weakness were lack of communication, movement on the court and we were unfortunately unable to end the long rally’s before they did," says Mason captain, freshman Alex LaCoste. "Although Wednesday and Tuesday night’s games were losses in the score book, we are improving each match and are excited about our upcoming games," states JV coach Kristin Kurowski.

In a match that was intended to be sweet revenge against Mason’s archrival, the Strasburg Rams, Mason volleyball fell just short of a hard-earned victory. The Mustangs stood strong and never gave up, having a 3 game loss 15-12, (12-15), (7-15).Mason’s loss is their second in the season, losing in a double header to Strausburg, just last week loosing 11-15, 0-15. Game one started out strong for Mason, with the competition head to head. For the first 10 minutes it was back and forth, making it hard for either team to come out to an early lead. The Rams put in a strong server with the score close at 3-4 that the Mustangs found hard to gain control of. With such a strong server, the Rams were able to gain 6 points off of the Mustangs, making the score 10-3. The Mustangs refused to give up, and they stuck to their "A game", what JV coach, Coach C, refers to as the Mustangs best mental and physical game.

At 10-3 the Mustangs won back their serve, and Mason starter Alex LaCoste served up 5 aces, and 2 additional serves that allowed Mason to make a comeback, evening out the score 10-10. Mason was able to maintain their momentum and they finished out the game 15-12.The six players on the court were played very well together. Throughout the night there was strong communication among all of the players and everyone really worked as a team.

"Strasburg is a strong, hard hitting, hard serving, experienced team. They know how to hit to the holes, and how to attack our weak spots. We need to stay awake on the court, and be prepared for anything that they may throw our way," stated Mason coaches "C" and "K" in a pre game pep talk on Tuesday night.

Everything that Mason had just wasn’t enough to beat the undefeated Strasburg Rams. Although Mason lost, Strasburg was on their toes, since Tuesday night’s game was the first time all season that the Rams had to go to 3 games to win a victory. Mason’s last 3 losses put their record at 4-3 in the district. The Mustangs take on Madison County, Friday at 6:30 and Brensville, Saturday at 4:00.