Cougars return key starters but, lose to Bruins

By Cody Dalton
SWT Sports Writer
sports@southwesttimes.com

BLACKSBURG – After finally having most of their full starting lineup for the first time in a week, the Cougar volleyball team fought hard, but fell on the road to Blacksburg, 3-0 (14-25, 15-25, 16-25).

Pulaski (8-11, 1-8) returned starters Ashley Burleson and Becky Pennington to the lineup after both came down with sickness last week. However, they would be without a key back row player in Tamar Smith, who is sick.

“It helped a lot having both of those girls back because without them, we’d have a void in our lineup,” said Cougars coach Ashley Surber. “We got more digs with Ashley back tonight and Becky got some kills when we needed them. Of course, we didn’t have Tamar tonight, so we were one defensive specialist short.”

The addition of those two key starters seemed to have a profound impact on the Cougars overall team play. Despite being down 6-2 in the beginning of the first game, the Cougar’s Jette Wade would get a kill and Shammra Arnold would add an ace to pull Pulaski within two at 6-4.

The Bruins (13-6, 5-4) would open up a gap though with the score 7-5. They forced two Cougar mistakes and Abby Pennington would have a kill in the 3-0 run, making the score 10-5.

The Blacksburg lead held to within 4-5 points before a big Bruin burst at the end of the game. Two kills by Katy Kipps, one by Lauren Cusimano, and a Cougar mistake opened up the lead to 19-12. The Cougars would not recover and would lose the opening game.

The Cougars fell behind again early in the second game, as Blacksburg took an early 3-1 lead. However, Pulaski would rally and eventually worked their way into a tie at 9-9. The Bruins were forced to take a timeout.

Coming out of the timeout though, Blacksburg would regain their composure and the momentum in the game. They would score seven of the next eight points to take the lead at 16-10 and forced the Cougars to take a timeout of their own.

“They started hitting the holes and we weren’t covering it physically and where we were supposed to be,” Surber said. “We also missed some key serves. We just missed a couple of easy opportunities to get the ball back and they went on a run.”

Blacksburg would continue to build momentum after the timeout and scored five of the next six points. Pulaski just couldn’t catch up the Blacksburg’s commanding lead and fell in the second game.

Once again in the third game, the Cougars would have to rally from being down early. The Bruins took a 4-0 lead with help from kills from Sarah Golusky, Cusimano, and Kipps. Pulaski would rally though off the serve of Amanda Salinas. She would have an ace and a kill, while Becky Pennington pitched in a kill to pull the Cougars within two at 6-4.

“Amanda has a hard serve,” Surber said. “The way that she makes contact with it, sometimes it float and sometimes it drops. On the opposing side, you don’t know where it is going to go. With her being as strong a server, that picked the team up as a whole.”

However, two kills by Jackie Greenberg and one by Kaitlyn Ayares and Lindsey Henderson gave the Bruins a six point lead at 11-5. The Cougars would once again use Salinas on serve to rally. She would have an ace, while teammates Maddy Chitwood and Marlena Morrison had a kill a piece. That pulled them back to within 15-11.

That point marked a critical time in the game. The Bruin’s would score five straight points. Greenberg had two straight kills and Lacey McMahan had two straight aces. That late push kept Blacksburg out front for the win.

Ashley Burleson added to her career dig total with 19 digs, meaning she will only have to get 13 digs on Thursday’s Senior Night against Salem to attain the 1,000 dig mark for her career at Pulaski County High School.

The Cougars defeated Salem (4-14, 0-9) earlier this season, 3-2, in a hard fought contest on the road. That marked the team’s second district win in two seasons. A win would tie the Cougars record from a season ago, but it would exceed their district win total from last year.

“If you look at our program and where it came from, it is still not where it is supposed to be,” Surber said. “If we get another district win, that will mark improvement from where we were last year. It would mean a lot to my girls because they would be a part of rebuilding the program, even though it was only two wins in the district. That is still better than one. That will build a foundation for Pulaski County’s Volleyball.”

(10-29-09)