MONTICELLO — It took a moment, but once the Ponies found their groove, they were impossible for Juda to stop. Fifth-seeded Monticello won 25-23, 25-10, 25-13 in its WIAA Division 4 opening-round match against 12th-seeded Juda Oct. 22.

“Even though the scores were a little bit lopsided, I thought we volleyed with them, I thought we dug them, I thought it was a really good effort,” Juda coach Scott Anderson said. “In the end, they just had too many hitters and we could only dig so many balls.”

The opening set was a series of runs by both teams. After Monticello jumped out to a 6-2 lead with strong net play by freshman Ellie Gustafson, Anderson called a timeout. His players responded with a 9-0 streak of their own to go up 11-6.

“Taylor Golackson, my senior, was serving. We worked really hard the last couple of days (in practice), because Gustafson is just so good, we wanted to keep the ball away from her. We decided we were going to take our chances with serves tonight,” Anderson said.

It was the last time the Panthers would see such an advantage. The Ponies roared back with a 7-1 run to go up 13-12. 

“We sometimes get into slumps like that, it’s just a matter of moving our feet, focusing and getting our setter a ball that she can set so we get a kill,” Monticello coach Rebecca Gustafson said. “We have loads of talent, and when we’re on, we’re really good. But we can get stuck in a serve-receive like we did that first game where it can go from 6-2 to 6-9. That’s something we have to be able to adjust to faster.”

The two teams went back and forth the rest of the way in the set before Monticello could close it out. 

While the Panthers tried to keep the ball away from Ellie Gustafson, it was junior Mackie Errthum who took over at the net. The Ponies passed well and Alexa Siegenthaler started setting up the tallest player for some heavy spikes. Errthum had eight of her 15 kills in the opening set, with five coming in her team’s final six points. Maggie Bak blocked a kill attempt to end the set.

“I give a lot of credit to my setter (Siegenthaler). She was pretty consistent, which helps with my hits. I can really play around with where I want to go when the sets are perfect,” Errthum said.

Juda briefly led Game 2 by a score of 3-1, but the Ponies front line kept pounding away. Gustafson, Errthum, Bak, Hannah Clark and Emily Grant all recorded kills, while Clark and Sarah Blumer added timely aces to take what was a tight 7-6 lead and close the set on an 18-3 run.

“They have a plethora of hitters. I am really proud of my girls — the tallest player on our team is 5-6 and a half, and we call her 5-7. We zone-blocked tonight; everybody did their job and we covered most of the tips. We made them swing. They put most of them in with some really nice shots on the lines,” Anderson said. “We were hoping for a couple more outs on those hits, but they kept them in. Monticello earned this victory.”

The third set was much of the same, with the Ponies finding a rhythm early and running away from the Panthers. Monticello started subbing out starters midway through the set while leading 14-5.

“We got everybody in tonight. That felt really good,” Rebecca Gustafson said. “You don’t always get to do that every game.”

Once the score hit 20-12 in the third set, Anderson took out seniors Triniti Elmer, Taylor Golackson and Montana Steinmann, who embraced in tears at the end of the bench.

“I have three amazing seniors that have been with the program for four years. They are out there the whole time — except for when I pulled them at the end. They make the team go,” Anderson said. “We set a culture at Juda that we chase everything — we don’t fear anybody when we are digging balls. Those girls lived that culture.”

Errthum finished the match with 14 kills, while Ellie Gustafson had 11. Bak collected three blocks, with Clark and Gustafson adding three aces each. Siegenthaler dished out 30 assists and Blumer had 16 digs for Monticello.

Steinmann led Juda with eight kills, while Golackson had four aces and Maddie Smith 10 assists. Morgan Schneeberger chipped in with 25 digs, Elmer had 15 digs and Cheyenne Noble recorded a block.

Monticello advanced to play in the regional semifinal Oct. 24 at No. 4 Randolph. The winner would move on to the Oct. 26 regional championship to play either No. 9 Abundant Life-St. Ambrose or top-seeded Burlington Catholic Central, a staple at the Division 4 state tournament. The sectional semifinals are set for Oct. 31, with the sectional final Nov. 2.