The Mount Vernon boys volleyball team started the season on a roller coaster, dropping the first two matches then winning two straight, falling to 2-3 with a tight loss to Olentangy Liberty.
On March 10, the Yellow Jackets had their first match of the season and fell 3-0.
The first set was fairly close, but the Yellow Jackets fell 25-20. This was followed by a 25-15 loss in the second set, and while Mount Vernon gave the Panthers a run for their money in the third set, the Yellow Jackets took a 25-22 loss.
Junior Parker Gantt had nine kills, two aces, three blocks, five digs and an assist. Freshman Zach Black took care of the setting with 10 assists to go with three digs and one block. Junior Zack Karns had three kills, an assist and six blocks, while Joe Hubbard added two kills. Hunter Thompson also had one kill and two digs.
On a busy volleyball day, the Yellow Jackets faced Archbishop Moeller on March 11, and again fell 3-0. This was a much closer match than the final score would indicate, with the Fighting Crusaders winning 25-23, 25-21 and 25-23.
After starting the season with two straight losses, the Yellow Jackets came away with a 3-0 win at home against St. Charles in their second match on March 11.
Mount Vernon topped the Cardinals 26-24 in a close first set, then dominated the second set 25-14. The third set was a back-and-forth battle, but Mount Vernon came out on top 30-28 to take the sweep victory.
Gantt led the way with 16 kills, two aces, one block and six digs. Senior setter Cooper Carpenter tallied 24 assists, six digs, two blocks and a pair of kills. Ethan Cline, Hubbard and Layne Kuhlman each played well on defense with five blocks apiece. Cline and Hubbard also each had four digs, and Cline recorded one kill and Hubbard had two kills. Kuhlman pitched in offensively with two kills and an ace.
The Yellow Jackets got back to a .500 record with a 3-1 win over the St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish in their third March 11 match. The Fighting Irish started the match with a 25-21 win over the Yellow Jackets, but Mount Vernon won the next three sets 25-20, 25-20 and 25-22.
Gantt led the offensive charge with 29 blocks for his biggest match of the young season. He also had an ace, three blocks and 17 digs. Cooper Carpenter had 50 assists, controlling the setting all match. He also had eight digs, two blocks, one ace and seven kills.
Zack Karns put up 11 kills, six blocks and six digs. Cline had 11 digs, three blocks and four kills. Evan Komitau had a solid defensive performance with 13 digs to go with two aces and two assists. Hunter Trace posted seven kills, one ace, two assists and seven digs. Will Stemen added two kills and two blocks.
On March 15, Mount Vernon fell to 2-3 on the young season with a close 3-1 loss to Olentangy Liberty. The Yellow Jackets started off with a first-set win by a score of 25-23. Set two was another close one, but the Patriots came out on top 29-27. Olentangy Liberty won sets three and four by a score of 25-20 in each set.
