Cougars rally to down Colonels

By Cody Dalton
sports@southwesttimes.com

DUBLIN - William Fleming didn’t make winning easy, but the Lady Cougar volleyball team was able to pull out the hard fought four game victory, 25-18, 20-25, 25-19, 25-16, over the Colonels on Tuesday.

“We were slow,” said Cougars coach Ashley Surber. “We’ve got to pick it up when we play Radford on Thursday. We start district play a week from Wednesday. All in all, the kids had a really good attitude tonight.”

Pulaski started off sluggish in many situations all night. The Colonels were able to jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first game and led through most of it. At one point, the Colonels led 10-4, looking as if they would take the game.

However, the Lady Cougars rallied and with the score 13-8, would score five straight points to tie the game. The game remained deadlocked until the Cougars took at 17-16 lead and scored four straight points via a Jette Wade kill, Maddy Chitwood block, and two Fleming mistakes. Pulaski took the first set, 25-18.

A slow start wouldn’t plague the Cougars in the second game, but weak play during the middle of the game would. With the game tied 8-8, the Colonels scored eight straight points with the help of Calesse Stovall. That lead would hold through the game, as the Cougars failed to catch up, dropping the second game.

“She [Stovall] is their best player,” Surber said. “She came out and she can really hit the ball hard. My kids did adjust well though. Maddi [Chitwood] got some good blocks on her. Ashley [Burleson] dug her up a few times as well.”

Game three looked as if the Cougars would drop it too. William Fleming would take a 10-4 lead in the game. However, the Cougars would once again rally to tie the game at 11-11. Marlena Morrison had two kills in the rally and Fleming had five mistakes. That would be a turning point for the Cougars would scored six straight points to take a 17-11 lead.

That lead would hold, but not before the Colonels fought furiously to try to hold on. William Fleming scored seven points towards the end of the game, but it wouldn’t be enough to win the game.

After proving to be a tough challenge in the first three games, William Fleming fell flat in the final game. Mistakes would be the key issues, as they failed to convert on several key situations. The Cougars took an early 7-2 lead in the game, one of which was a Morrison kill.

The Colonels fought back, closing to within 14-10. However, that score would mark another turning point, as the Cougars scored seven consecutive points to take a 21-10 lead. Morrison had two aces in the scoring streak. That would be enough of a lead for the Cougars to stay ahead and earn their sixth win of the year.

Ashley Burleson, who had 31 digs in the game, led the Cougars in the win.

“We need to work better on communication and putting the ball down,” said Burleson, a senior libero. “We can’t just roll it. We all had a really good attitude though and came back.”

The Cougars (6-1) are off to a great start under second-year coach Ashley Surber. So far, the only blemish on their record is a tough 3-1 set loss to Radford.

“They’ve got to go out and play harder than what they did tonight to beat Radford,” Surber said. “They’ve got to go out and play like they did against Liberty this year. That performance is by far better than the way we played at Radford.”

The Lady Cougars will try to avenge their only loss of the season, as they next play against cross-town rival Bobcats on Thursday.

“I think it is going to better because it is on our home court because we don’t have all of their fans,” Burleson said. “We will be more prepared because we’ve seen how they have played before. We know who can hit and who can’t.”

JV – Pulaski def. Fleming, 2-0 (25-12, 25-2)


9-15-09