Montevallo rallied back after dropping the second game of a volleyball match Monday, to down rival Calera, 3-1.

Head coach Tena Niven said the game revealed the best and worst about her Bulldogs team, who is now 12-9 on the year.

“We just don’t know how to finish games real well at times,” Niven said. “That first game we came out and had all of the energy. They (Calera) were making mistakes, and that got us the momentum.”

But that momentum was quickly swept away as Montevallo missed serve after serve, a total of 13 in the first two games combined.

“Any time you miss that many serves you’re going to lose,” Niven said. “I give Calera a lot of credit because they’re all over the floor … I see them improving every time we play them.”

Once Montevallo moved past the second game, which it lost 25-22, they rolled past Calera, 25-19, in game three and took an 18-6 lead in the fourth game before Niven cleared her bench.

While pleased with the win, Niven said she’d like to see her team finish a game, as Montevallo allowed Calera to cut the game four score to 25-16 before closing it out.

Calera (6-9) beat Montevallo on the stat sheet as Jasmin Holloway led the Eagles with 22 kills, 21 digs and four blocks, while La’Jacquline Morgan had 35 digs and Kellie Rassmussen had 48 assists.

“Montevallo’s a good team, and we can hang with them. Right now, it’s us beating ourselves,” said first year Calera head coach Amanda Heaton.

Montevallo’s leading attacker was Seqouia Peoples with nine. Hope Anderson had 12 aces and 17 digs.

Calera bounced back to sweep Holt Tuesday, 25-16, 25-14 and 25-13. Holloway led the Eagles with 17 digs, seven aces and eight kills. Morgan added 11 digs and five kills.

“I think our team is finally building the foundation of Calera volleyball,” Heaton said. “We went to Holt with a job to do, completed it, and now we are ready to move on to Jemison who we play on Thursday.”

Montevallo, who will host its area tournament later this month, will meet Chelsea Thursday.