Late-game skids haunt Tiger spikers

The Tiger varsity volleyball team's inability to find a way in crunch time led to a Webb City sweep at Wynn Gymnasium on Thursday. Webb City's young Cardinals, with three freshmen starters, were able to win the crucial points down the stretch for a 25-19, 25-20 victory. In both contests, the Tigers were in decent shape late, but couldn't finish. Game one, close throughout, saw Nevada trail 19-20, before the Cardinals ripped off five straight points for the win. Game two was a carbon copy. Again the Tigers trailed 19-20 and Webb City went on a 5-1 run to secure the win. Nevada coach Sharla Wilkerson pinpointed the Tigers' shortcoming. "We're playing aggressively on defense," she said, "and we're scrappy getting the ball over (the net), but we're just sending free balls over and that just gives them a chance to hit out on us. We can't seem to get on the offensive, where we initiate the hitting." Nevada (11-9-2) fell to 3-2 in the Southwest Conference, while Webb City (13-9) remained on top of the league with a perfect 5-0 mark. "They're a decent team, but they're not so good that we can't beat them," added Wilkerson. The Tigers won't have a long wait to find out. Their next match is at Webb City on Tuesday. Nevada's Jenny McCullough turned in a another solid all-round effort with seven service points, three kills and six solo blocks. Hillary Adams was the leading scorer with eight points and Veronica Mosier tallied seven. Lacy Leonard topped the kill stats with four and added four blocks, while Kelsey Erwin chipped in with three kills. Ashley Beckett, with seven, was the assist leader. The Tiger junior varsity (4-12, 2-3) lost 20-25, 8-25 to the Cardinals. Elizabeth Bain scored five points and Ashley Eaton had three assists. The Tiger freshmen team continued to shine, improving to 15-1 with a sweep of Webb City. Nevada won the first 25-19, then closed out the match at 25-22. The victory avenged the only blemish on the frosh record, a three-game loss in the final of the Webb City Freshmen Tournament in mid-September. "It was a big win tonight," said freshmen coach Lisa Ballou. "The girls really wanted this one." Brittany Crockett was the scoring and kill leader with 15 points and five kills. Kellie Cooper recorded seven helpers and Crockett added four.