Central Mountain's Ellen Banfill serves a ball during Tuesday night's home match against Midd-West on senior night. TIM WEIGHT/For The Express

MILL HALL– After a tournament and 12 days away from home, Central Mountain returned back home for a non-conference matchup with the Midd-West Mustangs on senior night. From the festivities to how the match played out, all went as planned. Three different Wildcats in Heidi Miller, Cora Myers, and Gabby Beaubrun scored at least five points on the evening and Central Mountain rolled to a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 25-10, 25-10) of the Mustangs.

Central Mountain won its 18th game of the season and never trailed in any set. Beaubrun finished with seven points, five aces and two kills, Reese Walizer four aces, one kill and two digs while Miller added three kills and two digs. It was an all-around performance for the Wildcats from start-to-finish, and it was a good return trip home for the Wildcats in a trip that lasted under one hour.

“We kind of knew what we were getting into. It’s tough to play teams like this sometimes but they’re on the schedule so we have to play,” Central Mountain coach Chipp McCann said after the win. “We got all our seniors in that first set, they played the whole time. They’ve worked hard in the gym and we tried to reward them a little bit for that.

“We can’t disrupt what we have going, so as a team we had to get back to it,” coach McCann added.

Central Mountain kicked off the opening set with an all-senior lineup. And although it was a slower start than what the Wildcats typically get off to, with the highest lead being five points in the early going, Heidi Miller, Katelyn Bowman and Lillian Downing held the fort down for the first 10 points.

Central Mountain's Gabby Beaubrun hits a ball over the next during a home match against Midd-West on Tuesday night on senior night. TIM WEIGHT/For The Express

Walizer and Payton Kinely chipped in on a nice assist-to-kill as Walizer passed to Kinley for a point which put the Wildcats up by six points as it finally began to find its groove. The Wildcats finished the first set on a 7-1 run as Banfill finished with four aces in the set and five different Central Mountain players scored points to take the first set 25-13.

Between a return home and finding a groove with a different lineup in, it took Central Mountain some time to find its footing but once it did it picked up the tempo.

“The competition level is dramatically different (in a tournament). It’s always nice playing in our gym,” coach McCann said when asked about finally being home after 12 days. “When we’re playing good teams and the students show up they’re an advantage. They showed up (Tuesday) night.”

After taking a 5-1 lead in the second set, Central Mountain increased that to 9-2 as Walizer served a couple of aces and Beaubrun assisted a Miller kill. With a 15-4 lead, Beaubrun served up consecutive aces. Central Mountain finished off a 8-5 run with a 25-10 win in set two. Miller and Cora Myers had five points apiece with three kills each and Hardy finished the run with an ace.

Hardy rattled off four straight aces and points for Central Mountain to begin the third set, which gave the Wildcats an early 7-3 advantage. Walizer served an ace before Midd-West had an error, and two plays before that Beaubrun tallied a kill to extend Central Mountain’s lead to 13-5.

Central Mountain's Katelyn Bowman makes a dig during Tuesday night's home match against Midd-West on senior night. TIM WEIGHT/For The Express

Well on its way to a win, Beaubrun led the Wildcats with three consecutive aces to push Central Mountain’s lead to 22-9 before the Wildcats shut the door on a sweep, claiming the final set 25-10.

It took Central Mountain the first set to settle in after the fun-filled senior night festivities, but the Wildcats did a solid job of playing together, especially in the opening set where many seniors don’t always play together.

“I have the utmost confidence in all the girls on the team. Anyone I put out there I expect them to do their job and they have,” coach McCann said. “We found our rhythm and that’s volleyball. It’s ups-and-downs and we had a lot more ups tonight than downs.”

Central Mountain had full control throughout the duration of the match. But a big turning point is when the Wildcats capitalized on Midd-West’s errors by hitting consecutive errors. Beaubrun led the Wildcats with five aces while Walizer, Ellen Banfill and Sophia Hardy totaled four apiece.

Beaubrun rattled off three consecutive aces in both the second and third sets, while Walizer and Hardy scattered some as well.

Central Mountain seniors and parents pose for a photo ahead of Central Mountain's home match against Midd-West on Tuesday night. The Wildcats won 3-0. TIM WEIGHT/For The Express

“Our serving has been one of our strong suits for most of the season. When we serve well we easily do well and that’s what we preach,” coach McCann explained. “If you can serve the ball and pass the ball, you give yourself a chance in any match, it doesn’t matter who’s on the other side of the net.

“We practice serving every practice. We practice-serve-receive every practice. They’re not the most glamorous. In volleyball the dirty work is passing and serving, it’s not the high-flying and pounding that everyone comes to see,” coach McCann said.

Those simple yet effective plays will be the ones that determine Central Mountain’s fate heading into the final stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs.

Central Mountain 3, Midd-West 0

25-13, 25-10, 25-10

Central Mountain celebrates after scoring a point during Tuesday night's home match against Midd-West on senior night. TIM WEIGHT/For The Express

Aces: CM 20 , MW 1. Kills: CM 14, MW 1.

Records: Central Mountain 18-5.

Next match: Central Mountain at Loyalsock Monday at 7pm.