Lady Tigers volleyball drops season opener at home

Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Marisa Hughes returns a serve during the second set of the Nevada Lady Tigers' season-opening match against College Heights Tuesday night at Wynn Gymnasium.

"Practice hard tomorrow and we'll be ready to win on Thursday night." Though head coach Becky Lowery's Nevada Lady Tigers varsity volleyball squad didn't get the start she and her coaching staff hoped for in the 2010 season, hopes remain high for some drastic and much-needed improvements to come quickly.

The Lady Tigers have been practicing hard and working toward improving a number of areas in which they have struggled leading up to the start of the season and those efforts paid off, but weren't quite enough to get past a tough opponent in the Cougars of College Heights Christian School Tuesday night. College Heights was simply able to gain a quick momentum swing early and held on to win in two sets by the final scores of 25-15 and 25-21.

"I'm not real disappointed with the things that we've been struggling with so far in practice," Lowery said. "We did some things well."

The Lady Tigers looked as though they were going to be able to get over the hurdle of having lost their best player in Mariah Mock after last season and continue the winning ways they have become accustomed to early as they drew first blood in the opening set. College Heights was having none of it, however, and quickly stepped up its play, taking control of the set from that point on.

After going on a 4-0 run when Nevada was simply unable to convert on some solid hitting and much improved serve receive, the Cougars latched on to the momentum and refused to let it go. Though they showed tremendous improvement in nearly every area from past experiences in practice, the Lady Tigers simply couldn't get much of anything past the wall that was the College Heights defense.

"We knew they had some good hitters and some good blocking. They played great defense, though." Lowery said. "They didn't let a ball hit the ground, hardly. They're solid all the way around."

Head coach Karla Gaines' Cougars eventually extended that lead to as much as nine on three different occasions before finally putting the opening set away by final score of 25-15. Though that score may not show it, the Lady Tigers showed some very strong play on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, making drastic improvements in serve receive and hitting consistency from what Lowery has seen in practice thus far.

"Our serve receive, I thought we did a really good job tonight considering what we've been doing in practice," Lowery said. "I was pleasantly surprised."

The second set got off to a much similar start as the Lady Tigers got on the board first, only to see College Heights rally and take control on the heels of three consecutive ace serves by Makayla Fuller. The Lady Tigers stepped up their hitting, but were still simply unable to get the kills when they needed them, ultimately allowing College Heights to put the final set out of reach as they built their lead up to as much as nine points on two different occasions.

"We just didn't get the kills, but we didn't make a whole lot of hitting errors," Lowery said. "We were pretty consistent with our hits, now we've just got to turn some of those hits into kills. ... Everybody did a great job at the net, we just didn't get those kills."

College Heights was ultimately able to stave off Nevada's attempts at a late-game comeback and held on to complete the sweep, winning the second set by a final score of 25-17.

Junior Marisa Hughes became the star of the night for the Lady Tigers as she could be seen all over the court and ultimately finished with a team-high six digs, while also showing a much stronger ability to control a tough serve than in years past. "Marisa Hughes did an awesome job on defense," Lowery said. "Her serve receive, she had a couple bad ones, but very, very consistent."

Seniors Kelci Cliffman and Erica Wagenknecht shared the team lead with three kills apiece while Bailey Harbit and Kathryn Cavener each finished with three blocks. Junior Cassidy Lowery recorded Nevada's only ace serve of the night.

Nevada's JV squad had much better luck on the night as they were able to overcome a number of mid-set shortfalls in both sets they played, ultimately coming away with a win. In the opening set, head coach Rachael Begemann's Lady Tigers needed a 7-0 run to win by a final score of 25-23 and were able to hold off a late charge from the Cougars to take the second set 25-21.

With the loss, the Lady Tigers start off the season with a record of 0-1 and will be back in action again tomorrow as they take on Harrisonville at 5 p.m., inside Wynn Gymnasium.

"For a first game, it wasn't bad," Lowery said. "We could play better, but I've seen lots of games that were a lot worse, too."

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