Cougars lose hard fought contest against Christiansburg

By Cody Dalton
sports@southwestttimes.com

CHRISTIANSBURG – After a much needed win on Tuesday against Salem, the Cougar volleyball team was eager to play against Christiansburg. However, the Demons would get the edge on every game over Pulaski, who dropped their fifth district game on the road, 3-0 (19-25, 21-25, 17-25).

“Christiansburg out powered us,” said Cougars coach Ashley Surber. “They put the ball down when the needed to. As a whole, we played them better tonight than what we did at home. The scores improved and they picked up their level of play.”

The Cougars (8-8, 1-5) came out flat in the first game against the Demons. Ashton Moran powered Christiansburg (9-6, 3-3) to an early 9-2 lead with two kills and an ace block. The Cougars rallied out of a timeout, but failed to close the gap.

Just before the end of the first game, Pulaski found a spark. Trailing 23-10, the Cougars scored six of the next even points. Marlena Morrison had a kill, while the Cougars forced four Demon errors. The rally wouldn’t be enough though and Christiansburg took the first game.

“The momentum was on our side at the end of the game and going into the second,” Surber said. “Again we played in spurts. We’ve just got to go out and play like we did against Salem.”

Coming into the second game, the Cougars looked to make a similar rally like they did in the Salem game just two days prior. They dropped the first game in the match at Salem, but won two straight against the Spartans. They looked to do the same to the Demons.

Pulaski failed to let Christiansburg out of their sights in the second game. Things remained tied or within one point up until the 13-13 mark, when Christiansburg broke free. The Demons scored six straight points, as Moran had an ace block and the Cougars committed five errors in the run.

While things seem wrapped up for a second game win for the Demons, Pulaski would pull back into things. Becky Pennington had a kill and Christiansburg made one mistake, to close the score to 20-17. However, the deficit was just too much and the Demons took a close second game.

“I think when they are down and they look at the score, something clicks in their heads and tells them to go now,” Surber said. “We still have to play from point one, so we don’t have to play being down.”

The third game saw the Cougars pull out to an early 3-1 lead. Seniors Lauren Stanley and Ashley Burleson each had a service ace. Unfortunately, the Demons would rally to tie the game at 3-3 and even took the lead at 5-3. Christiansburg would score three of the next five points in the game and opened up the gap to 8-5.

The lead held at three until the 10-7 mark, when Christiansburg scored five straight points. Christiansburg’s Lara Mash had two aces, while Maggie Eddleton added a kill. That eight point lead would prove to be the difference in the end, as the Cougars fell in the game, 25-17, as the Demons took the match.

Becky Pennington led the Cougars with four kills offensively. Maddy Chitwood added three kills and Jette Wade had two. Wade also had two ace blocks.

Ashley Burleson had 26 digs and an ace in the game. That performance closed her gap to the 1,000 career dig mark to just 52 digs. She’ll attempt to break that record at the next two matches against Cave Spring on Tuesday or Hidden Valley on Thursday.

Those two games will mark an extremely challenging week for the Cougars. Cave Spring (13-3, 6-0) is the current first-place team and defeated the Cougars on their home court two weeks ago, 3-0 (8-25, 15-25, 14-25).

“We just have to be ready to work on Monday and work on the things Cave did to us,” Surber said. “We have to cover their hitters when they hit. It’s going to be important for us to get a good block up to block their strong hitters.”

While the varsity squad had a tough outing, the junior varsity squad had reason to celebrate in Christiansburg with their first district victory of the season, 2-0 (25-23, 25-16).

Miranda Montgomery had 12 kills in the match, with eight of those alone in the first game. That improves the JV squad’s record to 12-5, 1-5 in district play.


10-15-09