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SALEM - It took five long games on Tuesday, but it was well worth the wait, as the Lady Cougar Volleyball team finally achieved their first district win, 24-26, 25-23, 25-19, 21-25, 15-7, on the road against rival Salem Tuesday.
“The ladies never gave up,” said Cougar coach Ashley Surber. “They fought their hearts out and you could tell the wanted that match. This win came at a really good time for us, when we needed it. The girls want to carry this into Thursday when we go to Christiansburg.”
Pulaski (8-7, 1-4) knew they would be in for a big fight against Salem in the early moments. The Spartans (4-10, 0-5) and Cougars traded blows, but Pulaski stayed up 4-2 after a Shammra Arnold ace, Lauren Stanley ace, Amanda Salinas kill, and a Salem error.
The Spartans went on a nice 5-0 run to take the lead 7-4. However, the Cougars answered with their own 5-0 run, as Becky Pennington got an ace paired with four Spartans errors. That made the Cougar lead 11-8.
A crucial moment for the Cougars came during the 22-19 mark, when Salem hitter Emily Richardson would leave the game with a wrist injury. Richardson would leave to have the injury looked at and it took away a valuable Salem weapon. She would not return.
The two teams traded blows in the first game, but the Spartans managed to gain a three point lead at 23-20. The Cougars rallied though and took the lead at 24-23 with a Salinas kill, Stanley ace, and two Salem mistakes. Unfortunately for the Cougars, the Spartans would make their rally back and score three straight points to take the first game.
Losing the first game has become a trend of late for the Cougars, who have lost the opening stanza in route to many of their losses this year. However, the team took a different approach this match during the break between games.
“I told them that they played really well and not to hang their heads,” Surber said. “We had three more games to play in order to win, but it turned out to be four. I told them we have nothing to lose and they have to go and play ball.”
“We knew we should have had the first game,” said senior right side Lauren Stanley. “At the beginning of the second game, we played better. We went in knowing we should win, when we don’t do that most matches.”
Though they may have dropped the first game of the match, the Cougars were determined to win the next game and tie the match at 1-1. Rallies would once again play into the game many times for both teams. Following a Pennington kill, Salem would score five straight points for the second straight game. Elisa Kroger would drive down two service aces and three Cougars mistakes contributed to the run.
The Cougars would take a timeout to regain their composure and they regained it in a big way. Coming out of the timeout, Pulaski scored six straight points. Salinas drove down two kills, Stanley added another kill, Pennington had an ace, and the Spartans hit two balls out, allowing the team to grab a 13-12 lead.
That marked a critical time in the game, which allowed the Cougars to climb back and even the score up. Both teams fought all the way to the end of the game, but the Cougars would be the team to beat.
Three Salem mistakes opened the door. After being tied 20-20, Salem would have a net violation, four hits on their side, and hit a ball out of bounds, allowing the Cougars to lead 23-20. That led to the Cougars opening up a small gap and allowed them to take the tight 25-23 win in the second game.
The team would continue to feed off of that momentum in game three. Despite the tightness of score in the first two games, the Cougars would jump out to a six point lead at 10-4 after a Salem net violation.
Pulaski would hold the lead until the end of the game, but Salem fought to stay within grasp of the game win. They even got as close as 21-19 before the Cougars won the last four points and the third game.
All signs pointed towards a third straight game win and match victory for the Cougars. However, the Spartans wouldn’t have it that way. The fourth game saw both teams have 7-0 runs. With the score 5-4 in favor of the Cougars, Pulaski’s Tamar Smith would have a kill along with Stanley and Pennington, as Salem committed four errors, which led to a 11-4 lead.
Salem immediately followed that with seven straight points of their own. Kroger had four aces, Alex Paxton had a kill, and two Cougar errors were made. Pulaski would take a timeout and try to once again rally out of the break.
They would garner a point and a 12-11 lead with a net violation, but Salem once again scored seven straight points. That margin would be hard to overcome, but the Cougars fought hard, seeing that first district win within sight. However, they just couldn’t come back in the fourth game and things were tied up at two games apiece.
The fifth and final game saw a determined group of Cougars come out of the timeout. They seemed focused and prepared for the challenge. They would answer in dramatic fashion. The Cougars tied things up at 1-1, but would run off four straight points. Jette Wade got two of the points off of kills and Pennington added another kill.
That early rush gave the Cougars a nice cushion. Just when Salem looked like they would get back into the game, they would commit a service error. Junior Maddy Chitwood would drive home two aces and Lauren Stanley added another kill after a Salem timeout to widen the gap.
A final Stanley ace would finish off the game and match, earning the Cougars a hard fought district win. It marks only the second time the Cougars have won a district game in two seasons. Stanley finished the game with nine kills and four aces.
“I had a lot more confidence and listened to coach,” Stanley said. “I listened to what she said to do. I definitely think that was my best game.”
Pennington finished with five kills, Amanda Salinas added four, and Marlena Morrison had three. Maddy Chitwood led the Cougars with four aces, while Morrison added two. Defensively, Shammra Arnold and Tamar Smith contributed greatly with 19 and eight digs respectively.
Chitwood believed one of her team’s keys was their belief that it could win against Salem.
“I think that we knew for once we could win,” Chitwood said. “I’m just really proud of us.”
Another impressive game on defense for Ashley Burleson puts her on the cusp of a historic landmark in her Cougar career – the 1,000 dig mark. She finished with 40 digs in the match and even tossed in two kills and an ace on offense. Burleson talked a little bit about the potential achievement after Tuesday’s game.
“It’s exciting,” Burleson said. “I never thought I’d be digging the ball up like that.”
The Cougars next opponent will come on Thursday, as they face Christiansburg (8-5, 2-3). The Demons beat the Cougars 3-0 earlier this season at home. Surber talked a little bit about her strategy to prepare her team.
“Tomorrow at practice, we are going to work on a few things that Christiansburg did against us that hurt us,” Surber said. “Hopefully, we’ll get that down and we can dig some balls up. We want to continue to use the momentum from this win to propel us into another win on Thursday.”
A win would put the Cougars in a tie for fourth place in the district with the Demons and garner them valuable position in the forthcoming River Ridge District Volleyball Tournament in November. It would also clinch at least a tie of the Cougars 9-11 record from a season ago. Surber talked about the importance of another district win.
“I think it would mean a lot to them,” Surber said. “None of these kids want to lose. They take pride in how they play. We will hopefully win two in a row, especially in the district. I think it will show not only our team, but our JV and our middle schools that Pulaski County is changing and that we are changing into winners.”
JV – Salem won 32-30, 18-25, 15-9
10-13-09
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