With just a few games left in the regular season, Iola coach Lauren Moots believes consistency is the only thing holding the Mustangs back from being an elite level team.
The Mustangs fell Tuesday to both Santa Fe Trail and Anderson County, but Moots said the Mustangs have all the pieces of a successful team in place. They just need to put them all together consistently to come out with a victory.
“Anderson County was on fire tonight, and today was not our best outing as a team,” Moots said. “Sante Fe Trail and Anderson County played their butts off today. They showed up to play, and we did not match them in energy throughout the game. We had spurts, but we needed it all the way through the game. You just can’t do that against good teams.”
Iola (6-19, 1-7) fell in the opener to Santa Fe Trail (19-9, 6-3), 25-18 and 25-12. After the Anderson County Bulldogs (12-11, 6-2) defeated Santa Fe Trail, 25-23 and 25-20, they turned their attention to Iola with a full head of steam. Iola hung in early, but Anderson County eventually found its groove and took both sets, 25-11 and 25-12.
“We got in a 2-point hole and it became 10 points quickly,” Moots said. “We need to find a way to bounce back quicker. We’ve made a lot of growth throughout the season and have found success in little wins along the way. We just need a more consistent effort throughout the whole match.”
With the entire roster coming back next season, and the majority of her varsity players being underclassmen, for Moots, this season was all about little victories. After months of work, her players can perform the same tasks as elite level squads.
“They build confidence with little wins. When you have players getting beat on the same ball, and they finally get that dig up,” Moots said. “Hey, that’s a big win. And it might not seem big to everyone in the crowd, but for us and knowing what we’re working toward, it’s a big win. The more we grow, the more we learn. Once we fix our mental toughness a little bit we’ll be in good shape.”
