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Middletown High head volleyball coach Aubrey Pfau likes the way her team has responded to pressure situations this year.
The Knights proved again Tuesday night that they can be successful in tight spots, battling back to take a 24-26, 25-16, 25-16, 23-25 and 15-11 win over visiting Monocacy Valley Athletic League non-conference foe Linganore High. It was Middletown's second five-game victory this season.
"When it comes to that fifth game, they're in good shape and it's just good to see that they can give it all they can just like the first game."
The Knights' fast start gave no indication that heroics would even be necessary. After breaking Linganore's serve to tie it at 9-9, Middletown sophomore middle hitter Ashley Park-Brouse served for the next eight points and a commanding 17-9 advantage.
Linganore responded with six straight service points from Corinne Seiberlich to draw within 18-17. And even after falling behind again, 24-21, Linganore's Jennifer Korte served four straight points to claim the opening-game victory.
"Losing that first game was a big eye-opener for us," said Middletown junior Mattie Smith, who finished with a team-best 14 kills, 34 digs, and 3 aces.
"It showed us that we weren't going to just walk in and beat this team. We had to work hard and play together as a team."
That's exactly what the Knights (4-3) did, picking up wins in the second and third games. Linganore answered once more in the fourth game, grabbing a seven-point edge late and cruising to a victory that tied the match at two games apiece.
"We never gave up," Linganore head coach Barbara Ferguson said.
"We didn't give up, and we hustled. We just ran out of time."
In the deciding game, a Smith kill pushed the Knights to a quick 4-0 cushion. Linganore cut the gap to within 6-3 on a hard Korte spike, but Smith served for the next five points and delivered an 11-4 Middletown lead.
The Lancers (2-5) got within three again, 13-10, on a Seiberlich kill to the back corner, but that was as close as they would get.
"It was a great win," Pfau said. "The Lancers are a good team, and they did a good job fighting back. But I thought we did a good job serving and we did well with our passing to stay in it."
In addition to Smith's efforts, Ashley Higginbotham finished with 10 kills, 24 digs, and two aces, and Levita Feaster turned in seven kills, 12 digs, and an ace for Middletown.
Holly Wright finished with 20 assists and Casey Smith tallied 13 assists.
Korte finished with 20 kills to lead Linganore, while Seiberlich had 25 digs, and Kass Greis turned in 20 assists.
