Cottey Comets lose season opener
The Cottey College Comets traveled to Joplin, Mo., on Saturday, Aug. 29, to open the 2009 volleyball season against Ozark Christian College. Ozark swept the young Comets in three games 25-22, 25-14, and 25-19.
The Comets brought seven freshmen and two sophomores to the match while Ozark returned all their starters from last year, including three juniors and one senior. In addition, the Lady Ambassadors ended last season with a trip to the national tournament in their division, so the Comets knew they would have to play well against an experienced team.
Cottey certainly started well, leading game one most of the way. In fact, they led by six late in the game, 18-12. Strong serving kept the Comets in the lead as late as 22-20, but OCC rallied to take the game one victory.
"I think towards the end of set one, we got a little sloppy," said Comets' head coach Marla Kannady Foreman, "and we opened the door for them to come back. There was a lot of nervousness with this being our first match, but it was also Ozarks first match as well.
"We are a young team, and there are some defensive adjustments we will need to make to be more competitive."
The last minute game one loss seemed to take the wind out of the Comets' sails as OCC had a relatively easy time of it in game two. The upperclassmen for the Lady Ambassadors controlled the game from the opening serve.
"We must learn to regroup, especially in set two, whether we win the first game or not," said Foreman.
Game three was more competitive as the Comets played fairly even with OCC through the majority of the game, only faltering near the end.
For the Comets, second-year starter Chrissy Echeverria led the team with 10 digs, Andrea Hass had five blocks, Natalie Larsen had 10 assists. Echeverria, Janelle Crowell, and Kailey Kelley tied with five kills each.
The next match for the Comets is on Wednesday, Sept. 2, when they travel to Lee's Summit to face perennial powerhouse Longview Community College.
The home opener for Cottey will be on Saturday, Sept. 5, in a tri-match against Labette Community College and Ft. Scott Community College. The Comets have the opening match at 10:30 a.m.