BY COLE MCNANNA // SEPT. 14, 2016 //

The first home game of the 2016 women’s volleyball season saw Mount Ida College come to Curry for a non-conference match-up Tuesday night.

The Mustangs, however, took three straight games away from the Colonels to escape victorious to improve their record to 4-3 on the season. Curry evens out to 2-2 following the match.

It was the first game of the new campaign, which is also under new leadership. Coach Elizabeth Morris was brought in over the off-season and has already been acquainted with her new squad three times over before coming into last night’s contest.

She noted that coming out looking like a new team was important to her and her players. “It wasn’t so much the win or loss it was more about showing up to play…we wanted to show a different team; a faster-paced team, a more aggressive team.”

The Colonels looked to do just that in the first game and jumped out to a 10-8 lead. However, Mount Ida responded and twice rattled off five straight points to reach an 18-11 lead.

Curry formulated an answer of their own and later rallied to a five-point run of their own to bring the score to 23-21. It was just a little too late, and the Colonels couldn’t manage four points before the Mustangs got two and Mount Ida took the first game.

The middle game was another back-and-forth affair with both teams gaining the lead. After trailing 21-15, the Colonels bounced back and forced a timeout after sophomore Grace Stafford produced three straight service aces to bring the score to 22-19. However, the Mustangs’ coaching staff must have had the right message and they finished out the second game to a 25-19 final score.

Again in the last game, neither team could really get a run going for themselves and it came down to the last handful of points. Curry rallied to a 23-18 score and coach Morris rallied her troops in a timeout.

Even on the verge of match-point, the Colonels won the serve back, down by a 24-20 score. However, in the last play, senior Nicole Grambley’s block fell out of bounds and the game ended at a 25-21 score and the Mustangs completed the sweep.

The game ended and saw junior Nicole Rice tally eight kills and Grambley was right behind with six. Senior Makayla Hughes finished the night with 11 assists and junior Courtney Carroll racked up 17 digs.

Women’s Volleyball ends home opener with a loss to Mount Ida. // Image By COLE MCNANNA

After the game, Grambley echoed her coach’s thoughts and noted that the Colonels wanted to come out looking like a new team. “We came out strong, we started off talking, we definitely started off better than last year.”

However, with the new team, there have also been some growing pains between the new team members and coaching staff. Grambley noted that the more practice scenarios they run through in practice the better off they’ll be.

Point, Rice: Nicole Rice accounted for 10 total points, second-most on the night only to Mary Kate Reidy who accounted 10.5 for Mount Ida.

Road Trip: The Colonels return to action Thursday evening when they travel to Becker College for another non-conference match before going to a tournament Saturday afternoon, also on the road.

Killer 20’s: Curry now has three attackers registered with over 20 kills on the season already; Grace Stafford has 29 while Grambley and Rice both totaled 25 so far.