Cougars drop home opener to tough Panthers

BAINBRIDGE ­– North Putnam volleyball had its home opener of the 2024 season on Monday when the Cougars welcomed the Riverton Parke Panthers.

After coming away with a five-set win over South Vermillion in their season opener Saturday, the Cougars looked to start the year 2-0. However, the visiting and always-tough Panthers made life difficult and came away with a three-set sweep of North Putnam 25-11, 25-19, 25-10.

In the opening set the Cougars kept pace with the Panthers early on, trailing only 9-7, but Riverton Parke (1-0) showed why they won 26 games a season ago and secured 16 of the next 20 points for the opening set win.

After settling in following the opening set loss, the Cougars re-grouped and looked like a different team as they went point for point with the Panthers for much of set two.

Trailing 18-13, North Putnam (1-1) rallied off five-straight points to even the score at 18-18, but once again the Panthers got the better of the Cougars in the latter stages, going on a 7-1 run to close out the second.

The third and final set belonged to the Panthers from the get-go as they jumped out to a 13-3 lead and didn’t let up. Riverton Parke flexed its muscles to the fullest as it walked away with the sweep.

Despite the three-set loss, Cougar coach Jenny Heron saw plenty of positives from her team that is still finding their footing two games into the season.

“Riverton Parke is always a good team because they’re so scrappy,” Heron said. “They make you work for every single point with how well they play on defense.

"We’re still a very young team and are trying to figure out how we want our lineups and rotations to work. That second set I was proud of the adjustments we made and that’s a sign of growth from these girls already. I’m excited to get to back to practice with this group and see them progress.”

Coming into this season the Cougars, as Heron mentioned, are looking for some new faces to lead the way. Mack Mason is the lone senior while a strong core of juniors in Melanie Davies, Bailee Pride, Hailee Daigle, Morgan Berry, Jenna Day, Kaylynn Lawrence and Addie Jones will be key to their success.

A bright spot for the Cougar program came in the junior varsity match where the JV squad came back from an opening set loss to win the next two sets in three 22-25, 25-21, 15-9.

Heron made sure to give her younger girls the credit they deserve for pulling out a big win.

“It was really great to see those girls get their first win of the year in the way they did it,” Heron said. “They were a little upset with how they played Saturday in our first game but for them to respond the way they did tonight I was proud of them.

"We’re a very athletic group both JV and varsity and we just have to keep learning and grinding the volleyball side of things. If we do that, I think we’ll be in good shape.”

The Cougars return to action on Thursday when they travel to take on Western Boone.