Shields earns 200th as Murray sweeps Mount Ayr

MURRAY — Tori Braby had one of the best seats in the house to view her father's 200th career coaching victory here Monday night.

Unfortunately for Braby, a Mount Ayr volleyball assistant coach, her father, Jerry Shields, is the head coach for Murray.

Shields watched his Lady Mustangs cruise in the first two sets and then fight back against a determined Raiderette squad in the third for a non-conference sweep, 25-7, 25-13, 25-23.

Shields has earned all 200 of his coaching victories at Murray. He joked that having his daughter on the other bench made it even sweeter.

The Lady Mustangs improved to 6-7 on the season, while Mount Ayr dropped its 11th consecutive match after winning the season opener against Southeast Warren.

"Both teams are playing a lot of young kids. Both have a lot to look forward to," Shields said.

Fast start

The start of the match couldn't have gone any better for Murray and any worse for the Raiderettes.

Cheyanne Ashby forced a quick sideout with a kill and Kate Patton stepped to the service line for the Lady Mustangs with a 1-0 lead.

Two more kills by Ashby, three Patton ace serves and numerous Mount Ayr errors led to a 16-0 Murray lead in the opening minutes.

"Kate did a nice job serving and Cheyanne had some nice attacks at the net that first set to get us on top," Shields said.

The Raiderettes finally got on the board with a Caitlin Giles kill, but a pair of kills and two ace serves by Murray's Summer Glasener made it a 21-2 score. Hannah Barber had a pair of late kills and the first set ended with Mount Ayr making another error.

It was another fast start for the Lady Mustangs in the second, as they led 5-1 after a Glasener kill and Caitlyn Weir ace serve. Mount Ayr stayed close, but at 7-4 Murray won six of the next seven points to open up a 13-5 advantage.

The Raiderttes got to within six points on several occasions, but no closer, as the Lady Mustangs cruised to a 2-0 lead with the 25-13 win.

Tight set

Mount Ayr could have mailed it in at that point, but the Raiderettes came out strong in the third and jumped out to a 7-1 lead. Paige Daughton, Madi Hosfield and Amanda Perrigo each had a kill during that opening stretch and Giles tossed in a pair of ace serves.

Murray pulled to 8-5, but Mount Ayr went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-5 lead and forced a Shields timeout.

The Lady Mustangs came out of the break on fire and ripped off six straight points, capped off by a Brooke Hoffman ace serve, to make it a one point game at 12-11. The Raiderettes regrouped and scored the next two points, but Murray finally came all the way back to knot the score at 14-14 on a Hannah Barber ace serve.

Mount Ayr got back up by three points at 19-16, but Murray reeled off five straight points for a 21-19 advantage. The lead went back and forth and the two teams were tied 23-23 when the Lady Mustangs earned a match point on a Mount Ayr error. Another hitting error by Mount Ayr ended the match.

"A win is not based on the score for us right now. It's how we finish," Mount Ayr coach Brandie Ruggles said. "The way we walked off the court we considered it a win."

Shields was just happy to get off the court after a tough third set.

"Anything can happen when you give a team momentum. Volleyball is all about momentum," he said.

Murray statistics

Serving (aces) — Kate Patton 24-25 (4), Brooke Hoffman 11-11 (1), Summer Glasener 9-9 (3).

Attacks (kills) — Glasener 7, Cheyanne Ashby 5, Megan Oswald 3, Hannah Barber 3.

Blocks — Ashby 2, Barber 2.

Setting (assists) — Patton 17-17 (8), Hoffman 33-35 (7).

Digs — Patton 10, Barber 8, Hoffman 7.

Mount Ayr statistics

Serving (aces) — Caitlin Giles 11-12 (2), Taylor Lynch 7-8 (2), Paige Daughton 5-6, Logan Wimer 5-6.

Attacks (kills) — Daughton 6, Leah Klejch 3, Giles 2.

Blocks — Daughton 1, Amanda Perrigo 1, Brook Rychnovsky 1.

Setting (assists) — Madi Hosfield 22-23 (5), Giles 27-30 (3).

Digs — Megan Doubleday 11, Logan Wimer 7, Taylor Lynch 6.