Polk County’s volleyball squad may be building momentum for the second half of the season.

And just in time.

The Wolverines own their first three-game winning streak of the season after sweeping Mountain Heritage on Thursday in Western Highlands Conference action at Polk.

Polk County notched a 25-10, 25-17, 25-19 victory, improving its record to 6-7 overall, 3-1 in WHC play. The loss was the first in league play for Mountain Heritage (3-8, 2-1).

More importantly, Polk County continues to round into form ahead of a key conference game next week at Owen, a must-win for the Wolverines to stay in the hunt for a conference championship.

“I feel like they’re getting into a groove and starting to do the things they’re supposed to do,” said Polk County head coach Molly Hill. “We’ve got Owen next week and two other games next week, and we need to stay focused and stay disciplined and do what we need to do and get three wins.”

Polk dominated the first set, leading comfortably throughout  before having to battle to win the second. Mountain Heritage built an early 7-2 lead, only to see Polk rally and retake the upper hand.

The Cougars still trailed just 20-17 before the Wolverines reeled off five straight points to close the set, with Marissa Twitty polishing off the final point with a kill.

The third set followed the pattern of the second, close throughout until Polk snapped a 13-13 tie and surged in front. The Wolverines reached a 22-19 lead before Grace Lauer had kills on two of the final three points to seal the win.

“Players are stepping up,” Hill said. “They may have been timid before and kind of hesitated, but we’re past that.

“You saw that tonight with Kristen [Hall] getting hurt. I moved some people into positions they don’t normally play and they performed and played well.”

Lauer finished with six kills for Polk, with Marilyn Castillo adding five kills, four assists, seven digs and a block. Ansley Lynch had 13 digs and Sydney Waldman finished with nine assists and four digs. Hall had nine digs and three kills before leaving in the third set.

Polk County will host Rosman on Monday in a nonconference clash.

– Submitted by PolkSports.com