MEDORA
The Medora varsity volleyball team got off to the positive start coach Missy Stewart was looking for this season by defeating Madison Christian Academy 25-13 in the opening set of Monday’s Southern Roads Athletic Conference match.
But it didn’t last, and Medora fell in four sets.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“The first set they looked good and played hard. They were moving and talking,” Stewart said. “I think they got a little too relaxed coming into the second set. The next thing you know, they dug a big hole, and they couldn’t get out of it.”
Some of that energy seemed to fade, however.
“They quit talking, quit moving,” she said. “Definitely they (didn’t) do either of those when they are playing.”
Aaralyn Hackney opened the second set with an ace, and the Hornets held a 2-0 advantage before the Defenders opened up 8-2 and 20-3 leads and won 25-4.
In the third set, the Hornets fell behind 9-4 before they rallied to trail 9-8 and again at 19-18 before Madison won 25-23.
It was more of the same pattern in the fourth set as the Defenders jumped on top early 6-2. The Hornets closed to 16-13 before Madison closed the match on a 9-1 run to win 25-14.
Stewart said her team gave up too many easy points.
“That’s what I told them,” she said. “They got on nice, little runs, and the next thing you know, we’re back down in the hole again. We can’t afford to play the yo-yo game.’”
She meant going up and down.
“They have to be consistent and move and talk at all times and stay focused on the game and not worry about what’s out in the crowd,” she said.
The first set was tied at 4 before the Hornets used a kill and an ace from Jenna Bowers to go up 9-5 and stayed ahead the rest of the set. Bowers also served an ace for set point.
In the second set, the Hornets led briefly 2-0 before the Defenders took over and dominated the rest of the way.
Madison held a 9-4 lead in third set and Medora closed its deficit to 13-11 on an ace by Hackney. Medora kept within range, trailing 20-19 following a kill by Mariah Cobb, before the Defenders closed the set on a 5-4 run.
Madison jumped on top 9-4 in the fourth set. The Hornets trailed 16-13 and Madison went on a 9-1 run.
Bowers was 18-21-5 in attacks for the Hornets with Mariah Cobb 16-17-4 and Abby Wayman 10-15-4.
Cobb was 9-for-10 with two aces, Bowers was 13-12-2 and Hackney 12-12-3 in serves.
“The net could be a little bit better,” Stewart said. “I feel like our blockers need to come off a lot faster. We were standing and watching the balls come over instead of our hitters being off and ready to go.”
Stewart felt her team could have been smoother in the late going when Madison was serving.
“Serve receive got us in the second and third games quite as bit,” Stewart said. “We just weren’t passing the ball, weren’t getting behind it. We had too many over passes. Our serving started off the first set really good.
“I was impressed, especially with a couple freshmen I’ve got on varsity. They had some good serves. Then we’d get the ball back and finally break their serve, and then give it right back to them.”
The Hornets will be home against West Washington on Thursday.