COLFAX — Colfax-Mingo senior Sara Lahart gathered her five teammates on the court and did what a senior does.
With only 25 points separating the Tigerhawks from their first victory in a best-of-five match in almost a full calendar year, Lahart huddled her teammates and urged them to finish off Prairie City-Monroe then and there Tuesday night.
“I told them we need to concentrate and keep going,” Lahart said. “We just needed to stay excited and finish it and win.”
Win it they did. In moments when the Tigerhawks previously faltered this season, resiliency against PCM led Colfax-Mingo to a straight-set win, 25-18, 25-23, 25-23.
Victory was extra rewarding for Lahart and three other Colfax-Mingo seniors playing their last home match on Senior Night after the program experienced a 12-68 record the last three seasons.
Tuesday marked Colfax-Mingo’s first three-set win since the Tigerhawks (4-18) beat Saydel in three sets on Oct. 17, 2013.
Colfax-Mingo’s student section had plenty to celebrate, too, as it formed a tunnel from near the net leading toward the locker room for the players to walk through after the match. It was the first time the home crowd had seen a win since Sept. 19, 2011.
“It feels amazing. It’s great,” Lahart said. “I love it.”
Colfax-Mingo took control of the first set halfway through, increasing its lead from 10-8 to 19-11.
Players said winning the first set provided the team with a boost of confidence.
The Tigerhawks withstood a seven-point run by PCM (8-21) in the second set. Recovering from opponents’ runs was something head coach Michelle Grant said her team had to do a better job of following a loss to Melcher-Dallas on Oct. 7. Grant’s team did so Tuesday and won despite trailing late in the set at 22-21.
The Tigerhawks erased the same deficit again in the third, scoring four of the game’s final five points to secure the win.
“Against PCM on Senior Night, unbelievable,” Grant said, repeating herself. “Unbelievable, and we came from behind in sets two and three, which we don’t do. We don’t come from behind.
“PCM made mistakes that we were able to capitalize on instead of them making a mistake and us making a mistake after it. We just did it right tonight.”
Those mistakes were at the forefront of PCM head coach Mollie Keitges’ mind after her team’s loss.
“I just don’t think our girls came ready to play. We had way too many errors,” Keitges said, noting her team’s 13 errors in the first set alone. “You can’t give 13 points to somebody and expect to win a volleyball game.”
PCM’s biggest offensive threat, Courtney Van Houweling, saw few opportunities to affect the match. She looked over at her head coach in clear frustration multiple times, and Keitges acknowledged Van Houweling’s lack of impact on the match “certainly makes a difference.”
“It was everything,” Keitges said. “On serve-receive passing, nobody was moving their feet. (Players were) stabbing at the ball, and then that led to bad sets, which led to hitters not being able to take some good swings at the ball.”
Van Houweling’s eighth kill of the match pulled her team even with Colfax-Mingo at 23-23 in the third set.
The Tigerhawks then accomplished what Grant hopes brings momentum to her squad.
“That’s what I told (the players) before I let them go, that this week we play Saydel that is at the bottom of the conference and we have some games we play this Saturday in our tournament against teams we can definitely get some wins against,” she said. “This has to catapult us through this week.”