The scoreboard said that Morris beat Coal City in two sets – 25-22, 25-23 – Wednesday. But that two-set win doesn’t indicate how competitive the match was.

In each set, a young Coal City team had a late lead, only to see senior-laden Morris rally for the win.

At the end of the match, it was Morris seniors Hannah Linn and Rosemary Misener that stepped to the forefront. Linn delivered two of her team-high eight kills to help Morris (3-0) recover from a 21-19 deficit and tie the match at 22. After a Morris serving error put Coal City (0-2) ahead 23-22, Rosemary Misener had a block and a kill to give Morris a 24-23 lead. On a long match point, Misener, who had four blocks to go with three kills, ended the rally and the match with another kill.

“I got hot at the end,” Linn said. “[Morris setter] Alexis [Williams] is great. She knows who is hot or has a good matchup and she gets them the ball. We have a lot of weapons to go to. This group is so talented.

“We are still working on trying to figure out who plays well together, but close matches like this bring us closer as a team as we learn how to play in close games.”

Despite its youth on the floor, Coal City did not seem intimidated, even in the close confines of the Morris Grade School gym that was being used until work on the gym at Morris High School is completed. The smaller room made for a noisier match, but the noise gave the feel of a postseason contest.

The Coalers came out strong, grabbing a 12-9 lead in the first set. Morris responded by scoring five straight points for a 14-12 lead and appeared to be taking over when they took a 17-13 lead. Coal City, though, had other ideas and ran off a string of six straight points, the last an ace by Jaela Vasquez, to take a 19-17 lead.

The two teams traded points before Morris got a quick 3-0 run on a kill by Lily Hansen, an ace by Emilee Doss and a block by Tessa Shannon, who finished with six kills, eight digs and three blocks, to take a 21-20 lead. Coal City then got a kill from Ava Kenney to tie it again, and a Morris hitting error put the Coalers ahead 22-21.

A kill by Shannon tied it at 22 before a Coal City hitting error put Morris ahead, 23-22. Linn then delivered a kill and a block to end the set.

Linn had two blocks to go with her eight kills for Morris, while Alyssa Jepson had 10 digs.

“Hannah got hot at the end,” Morris coach Scott Howell said. “We had gone to Tessa a few times in a row and she was a little tired, so we went to Hannah. The big thing for us was that the defense showed up and kept us in the game early. We struggled with our serve at the beginning of the first set, but after that we were able to serve better and not give away points.

“It’s nice to be pushed like this. This is our third match of the week, and each match has shown us something we need to work on. That’s what these early-season matches are for. We have seen what we need to work on, and we’ve been able to get three wins.”

Coal City jumped out to a 6-2 lead early in the second set, sparked by an ace by Kiersten Gabehart and a kill by Kenney. The lead was 8-4 until Morris went on a 5-0 run, capped by an ace by Sophie Sanders, to grab a 9-8 edge. The Coalers tied it at 9, but Morris got a kill by Alexis Williams (18 assists, 6 digs) to move ahead 10-9. A pair of Coaler hitting errors, an ace by Williams and a kill by Linn gave Morris a 14-9 lead.

Again, Coal City rallied.

Trailing 17-12, the Coalers got a kill by Riley Walker, a block by Kenney and Margaret Carlson and a block by Walker, followed by three straight Morris hitting errors, to take an 18-17 lead. Morris countered with a block by Linn and Olivia Peterson (3 kills), then another by Williams, to take a 19-18 lead.

Carlson had four kills to lead the Coalers, while Ladas had three. Carlson had three blocks and Ladas two.

“Our girls played very tough,” Coal City coach Pam McMurtrey said. “We are very young. Our two middles [Carlson and Ladas] are a sophomore and a freshman, and we brought up a freshman libero [Olivia Ferrari]. They are still learning, but they have a never-quit attitude.

“We did a decent job on serve-receive, which is something we have been working on. Even though we are young, our senior setter, Sydney Larson, runs the court very well. She knows who to get the ball to and when to get it to them. As the year progresses, our chemistry and communication will only get better.”