JEFFERSONVILLE

Seymour’s volleyball team opened their season on the right side of the wins/losses column Saturday afternoon.

The Owls started their 2017 campaign with a 25-14, 25-20, 25-15 sweep against Hoosier Hills Conference foe Jeffersonville on Saturday afternoon.

Due to the sectional being moved back a week on the schedule, the Owls had just 10 practices total going into the match. Ten practices minimum are required for a player to have eligibility in competition.

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“We had a good start today,” Owls coach Holly Birdsong said. “We do have a young group out on the court. We have a few varsity players that aren’t playing at this point yet due to practices. I felt like the young girls did a good job today.”

In all three games, the Owls jumped out to early leads.

Seymour went up 6-1 to start game one, but Jeff stayed within four points.

Up 16-12, the Owls won eight straight points — behind serves by sophomore Abby Schmidt — to lead 23-12. A block sealed the game at 25-14 for the Owls.

The Owls built a 5-1 lead to start the second game before holding a 15-6 advantage.

Jeff stormed back to pull within distance at 22-20, so Birdsong called a timeout.

Out of the break, the Owls went on to win the next five points — capped by hit from Schmidt and kill from junior Makenna Fee — to go up 2-0 in game scoring.

Birdsong said that it was important for the team to stay strong mentally in the second game.

“We talked about getting leads and keeping momentum on our side,” Birdsong said. There was a point in the second game that they got a little momentum swing. We can’t let teams do that.

“When we called the timeout, we talked to to the girls about settling in. We wanted to take the moment back from them and be confident. They came out ready in game three.”

The Owls didn’t waste any time in the third game, taking a 15-5 lead early.

Building too big a deficit for the Red Devils, the Owls closed the match at 25-15.

At the net the Owls dominated — going 84-for-91 with 27 kills.

Schmidt led the charge with 21 hits and five kills, Fee had 15 hits and six kills and sophomore Sophia Stahl added 13 hits and five kills. Fee also finished with 27 sets and 14 assists.

At the line, Schmidt made all 16 serve attempts to go along with a pair of aces.

Junior Emily Corcoran had a strong day in the back row, totaling 31 digs.

Tomorrow, the Owls (1-0) will host Columbus North at the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium.