Home, sweet home finale for Mustangs

This particular Mullen volleyball team can’t go home again.

The Mustangs had their final match in 2019 at Hutchison Fieldhouse on Thursday and it was certainly worth their while as well as worth watching – they rallied past Overland 25-23, 25-27, 17-25, 25-21, 15-12 in the second round of the Centennial League Challenge.

Nine seniors bid farewell to home court, but did so in fine fashion in leveling their record at 9-9.

“It was very important,” Mustangs senior Macy Schiefelbein said. “We put a lot of effort into the match tonight.”

True, and the Mustangs, who beat the Trailblazers (5-13) on their home floor the past week, had their hands full for a bit. They traded two-point games over the first two, watched Overland roll in Game 3, methodically traded punches in Game 4, and ended by keeping command in Game 5.

“It was close and we all played better because of it,” Schiefelbein said. “It was fun.”

Said Mustangs head coach Jeff Oliver: “Macy got hurt in our last match, hurt her ankle, and we weren’t even sure she would play … but, yeah, this was good. It would have been nice for the seniors to go out in three games but it was good.”

Oliver also cited the play of Katie Hammond and Henri Rasmussen as Mullen contributions came from multiple areas.

Mullen is due to finish the league-ending tournament on Tuesday at Arapahoe in Centennial. The Warriors (8-10) beat the Mustangs 3-0 in a tight one (25-23, 25-23, 25-18) in league play and Oliver said “it would be nice to win. I think the girls will be pretty motivated.”

The Mustangs will finish the regular season on Nov. 2 at the Class 4A-based Palmer Ridge tournament in Monument. It will serve as a warmup for regional rounds the following week.

And they can look back on their final home match with fondness, having walked away with a victory.

“It was hard to say goodbye,” Schiefelbein said, “but I think we all did it the way we wanted to.”