ABOVE: GHEC/T/ML's Addison Nowicki spikes the ball past two Cedar Mountain hitters during Monday night's contest at Truman. 

TRUMAN – Errors and miscues proved to be costly for the Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther volleyball team on Monday night, falling 25-14, 25-22, 25-20 to Cedar Mountain in a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover volleyball match.

Efforts from Aubrey Steffl, Reagyn Kleinschmidt and Kendra Erickson led the Cougars in the win as each player finished with 11 kills apiece.

Jaguars senior Keira Benck notched an impressive 42 set assists, while senior Londyn Bowers led all Jaguars with 18 kills. Sophomore Willow Singleton recorded a team-high of 13 digs, while senior Ava Donohue went 13 for 14 on serves with one ace.

“They’re a good team,” GHEC/T/ML head coach TJ Williams said. “They were 18-7 coming in, and one of them [losses] was to us in a tournament, so we knew they were going to be coming out swinging hard to avenge that loss.”

Cedar Mountain came out of the gate as the aggressor in this match, using strong returning skills and constant pressure to force the Jaguars into making some mistakes early and often.

A pair of aces from Kleinschmidt and a kill from Steffl gave the Cougars a quick 10-4 advantage, forcing Williams to burn an early timeout in hopes of settling down his team.

Despite cutting the deficit to 15-12 with a handful of points generated from Bowers in the air, Cedar Mountain’s five-point swing proved to be too costly for the Jaguars. Kills from Steffl and Kleinschmidt proved to be too much for GHEC/T/ML, forcing the team into a handful of uncharacteristic out-of-bounds hits.

Five more consecutive points from the Cougars ended the set in their favor, taking home the initial score with a 25-14 victory.

Following a Williams pep talk to his team after the first set, the Jaguars came roaring out in the second face-off after taking an early 7-4 lead, with Bowers making her presence felt immediately. From blocking Cougar spikes to using her own vertical to her advantage, Bowers had her fingerprints on her team’s first five points.

But Cedar Mountain was never out of it. Whether it was a block from Jaylyn Welter or a kill from Kleinschmidt, the Cougars managed to hang around despite the early avalanche from GHEC/T/ML.

A spike from Kleinschmidt propelled another 5-point swing for the away team, taking the 15-10 lead following consecutive kills from Steffl and Kleinschmidt.

The response from GHEC/T/ML was once again from Bowers following a tap-over kill that would get the ball back on their side. Following two more spikes from Bowers, the Jaguars found themselves down 17-16 with the momentum back on their side.

“That’s the biggest thing, if we can pass, then we are a pretty deadly team,” Williams said. “That first ball is the biggest thing for us.”

Cedar Mountain’s Erickson strung together a block and a spike to give her team a little breathing room with a 23-18 cushion.

Bowers continued to will the Jaguars back into the contest, however, stringing together a spike and an ace in back-to-back possessions to bring it within four. But Erickson again calmed down the surge, picking up the Cougars’ final two set points off of thunderous spikes to take the 2-point match lead.

In the third set, it was Cedar Mountain punching first. The duo of Steffl and Kleinschmidt once again caught first in the early going, combining for a block before recording a kill apiece to take the 4-1 advantage.

Bowers responded with a surge of kills of her own. The outside hitter scored four of the set’s next 6 points via spike, tying the game 6-6, and changing up speeds on the ball to fool any Cougar hitters that stood in her way.

But Cedar Mountain was able to withstand every run the Jaguars threw their way, countering every time to maintain an advantage. A Kleinschmidt spike caused Williams to use a timeout, with the Cougars taking a 15-11 lead.

Steffl used her powerful arm to propel another ball past the Jaguar hitters to end another Cedar Mountain run, taking the lead 20-14 after GHEC/T/ML brought it within 2.

The Cougars picked up their last 2 points of the match off out-of-bounds hits by the Jaguars, telling the story of what was happening the entire night.

“Just the errors on our side killed us,” Williams said. “Just some little things here and there that we should be able to fix. Not too worried about it … I told them, ‘They all played really well.'”

The Jaguars, now 12-13 overall, play at Mountain Lake on Thursday.