Cougars show improvement in loss to Blacksburg

By Cody Dalton
sports@southwesttimes.com

DUBLIN - Pulaski County High School’s volleyball team lost another district game at home to Blacksburg, but the stats don’t tell the entire story for the Cougars.

After traveling on the road against district powers Cave Spring and Hidden Valley last week, the Cougars (7-7, 0-4) finally returned home and showed sparks of improvement in their 3-0 (11-25, 7-25, 21-25) loss to Blacksburg on Thursday.

“Blacksburg has improved tremendously from last year,” said Cougars coach Ashley Surber. “They have girls who will put the ball down when they need to.”

Pulaski came out fighting in the first game, not willing to yield in pursuit of their first district victory. The Cougars matched the Bruin’s every move. After a Jette Wade kill and a net violation by Blacksburg (10-4, 2-2), the Cougars were in the early lead, 3-1.

The Bruins would answer though. With the score tied 5-5, the Bruins would win six straight points. Three kills by Sarah Golusky, two by Katy Kipps, and a Pulaski error pushed the Bruin lead to 11-5. That burst of points kept the Bruins out front in the first game and baffled the Cougars offensively and defensively.

The second game saw Pulaski fight once again and hold tight at 2-2. That score would mark a turning point in the match, as Blacksburg scored 12 consecutive points. Lauren Cusimano led the drive with four aces and a kill, while Kipps added two kills.

For the second straight time, the Cougars dropped a game because of a Blacksburg run. However for the Bruins, they wouldn’t be so lucky the third game. They would attempt to run away at the beginning stages of the game, but the Cougars Maddy Chitwood fired up her team during a timeout with the score 11-3 in favor of the Bruins.

“Maddy expressed that there is no time to play like the present,” Surber said. “I told them they have nothing to lose, play their game, and have fun.”

Marlena Morrison would listen to her teammate’s call and rally her team. Morrison would throw down two kills back-to-back and a third kill after a Bruin error. Those kills helped the Cougars gain the swagger that they lost in the first game and also closed the gap.

“Marlena got us back in the third game with her kills,” Surber said. “I feel like everyone started feeding off of that. When somebody does something good, everyone else feeds off of that. It helped a lot when she got us going in the third game.”

And go they did. The Cougars played through tough rallies and frustrated the Bruin offense. Ashley Burleson refused to let the ball hit the floor and the Cougar offense did not yield.

The Bruins would extend a small 17-13 lead into a larger 21-14 lead with kills from Jackie Greenberg, Abby Pennington, and Maggie Howell. Despite being down by an insurmountable lead, the Cougars once again failed to quit.

Morrison would get a kill and an ace, while teammate Tamar Smith threw in another kill to close the gap to 21-17. As the game winded down, Blacksburg continued to hold the lead and eventually reached match point, but the Cougars played like it was just another point in the match.

They would force two Blacksburg mistakes and pull to within 24-21, but it wouldn’t be enough, as the Bruins got one more kill from Lindsey Henderson to finish off the game.

“We had ups and downs,” Surber said. “Obviously the third game was the best we played tonight and the best we’ve played in a few weeks. If we start next game the way we finished against Blacksburg, it will help the kids mentally.”

Morrison had another impressive game for the Cougars and finished the game with six kills. Jette Wade had four kills, Amanda Salinas had two, and Becky Pennington, Tamar Smith, and Chitwood all had one. Ashley Burleson led the Cougars once again on defense with 23 digs and had a kill as well.

Next Tuesday, the Cougars will attempt to pick up their first district victory of the season on the road against Salem (0-4, 4-9). Surber hopes that her team will pick up where they left off.

“Everyone seemed pretty positive after the third game,” Surber said. “Everybody talked about carrying it into next game. If they can do that, my team can play at a higher level and have a better shot at getting another win next week.”


10-8-09