Freshman girls go on the road and earn first win in dramatic fashion
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continueposting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
PEARCY — Though they never quite recovered from the rugged start in their first game at Lake Hamilton on Thursday night, the Bryant Lady Hornets freshman volleyball team rallied and gained a little momentum. In the second game, they suffered another slow start. And, again, they rallied to gather momentum. This time, however, they came all the way back to win a thriller, 25-23.
And when they got the best of it at the end of the third game to win a nail-biter, 26-24, the Lady Hornets had surged to their first win of the season, 2-1, on the Lady Wolves’ floor.
Now 1-1, the Lady Hornets host Conway White on Monday, Aug. 30, in their conference lid-lifter.
The Lady Hornets include Jenna Acheson, Aubree Allen, Ashlea Brazil, Ashlee Caton, Stormi Chaloner, Kaley Coppock, Hannah Crouch, Dezarea Duckworth, Kaitlyn Greer, Nocole Guyett, Kayla Jolley, Jacie McMahan, Mekaylah Muhammad, Breanna Sanders, Courtnie Schultz, Becka Shaddon, Erica Smith and Katy Stillman.[more]
Head coach Monica Parish had to use two timeouts early in the second game but the second one helped her team get on track.
“Aubree Allen served the game’s first three points,” Parish recounted. “Then Lake Hamilton’s second serve tore us up for eight points with several serve-receive errors on our part. I called my second timeout at 3-10. I was trying to break their serve and I thought, ‘No use saving my timeout if they are this far ahead.’”
When play resumed, a service error cost Lake Hamilton a side-out.
“Then Dee (Duckworth) got three points for us and AC (Caton) served seven straight points that not only tied it but put us ahead, 16-15,” Parish noted. “That series had some good serves from Ashlee and then some great hustle plays from Dee and great rallying from our team.”
It was a back-and-forth tussle after that.
“We pulled it out somehow,” Parish declared. “A.C.’s service series really gave us the momentum and the confidence the girls needed. I was really proud of how my team made adjustments on the court and never gave up.”
Bryant carried the momentum over to the start of the third game. Allen served up six points to give the Lady Hornets the early edge but Lake Hamilton rallied to tie at 14-14 before Allen’s turn to serve came around again.
“She got points 15 through 17,” Parish said. “Then we went back ahead a point here or there. Lake Hamilton got on a little roll and led 21-24. But Dee served out for the final of 26-24.
“When Dee was the setter, she had some great digs to keep rallies alive and it really pumped up the team,” she added. “Nicole Guyett had some good net plays.”
Parish called the first game of the match “ugly.”
“Their middle front line and their serves just dominated us,” said the coach. “And the girls were not talking or working together.”
The Lady Hornets fell behind 1-12 before Sanders took over as the server and rallied the team to within 5-16. Later, Duckworth served for five straight points to get Bryant within 11-17 but that’s as close as they could get.
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