BURLINGTON — The Mustangs’ mood matched Tuesday’s rainy skies after they came away on the losing end of their volleyball matches at Burlington.
The Mustangs (6-6) lost to Prairie View in three sets as well as to Burlington in two sets.
Iola v Prairie View
Iola’s scores against Prairie View were 25-18, 25-19 and 25-18.
The Mustangs showed life early in the first set, jumping out to a 10-5 lead before the Buffalo stormed back to take an 11-10 lead. From there, Prairie View quickly extended their lead to 14-11 to a 25-18 victory. The Mustangs scored six straight at one point. 
“What hurts us most are unforced errors. We can’t make back-to-back errors,” said Iola head coach Amanda Holman. “When things don’t go our way, we shut down. We have the talent, we just have to be more mentally tough.”
Reese Curry led the Mustangs with a team-high 14 kills while Rio Lohman had nine kills. Alana Mader had two aces while Kaysin Crusinbery added 25 assists and Elza Clift had 18 digs.
Iola earned the win in the second set, 25-19. The Mustangs jumped out to a big 14-3 lead before taking a 20-12 advantage. Prairie View brought the set within a 22-16 margin before Iola pulled away for the 25-19 victory.
“Normally we’re pretty strong passers and then we rely on a couple hitters to put the ball down and help us get going,” Holman said. “That second set we got some good momentum and let that carry us.”
The Mustangs dropped the third set, 25-18. Mader led Iola with a team-high five points while Lily Lohman added four.
Iola @ Burlington
Burlington made quick work of Iola, winning in two straight sets, 25-16 and 25-22.
Jelinek and Mader each led Iola in the first set with a team-high four points. The Mustangs couldn’t get the ball rolling and were overwhelmed when Burlington enjoyed a seven-point streak.
Reese Curry and Mader of the Mustangs each scored a team-high five kills in the second set. Lohman had four kills while Clift had 18 digs.
Iola travels to Wellsville Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
