Third time is the charm… Jr. Lady Cyclones finally solve Liberty Bell in a straight-set win
Published 1:17 am Thursday, September 12, 2019
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Jr. Lady Cyclones Ava Owen (18) and Gracie Kirsch attempt to block a Liberty Bell return in TAD's big win Tuesday night.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Krisalyn Elliott digs the volleyball and sends it forward to the front row while Bailee VanHuss looks on.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Krisalyn Elliott bumps the volleyball forward to Ava Owen as the T.A. Dugger Jr. Lady Cyclones pulled off a big win over Liberty Bell Tuesday evening.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Marley Lewis sets the ball backward over her head in Tuesday's match against Liberty Bell.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Marley Lewis sets the volleyball up for a teammate to return across the net.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
One could probably walk into the T.A. Dugger Gymnasium after the conclusion of the Jr. Lady Cyclones volleyball contest against Liberty Bell and tell which team won the match.
All one would have to do is look at all the smiles on the faces of the Jr. Lady Cyclones faces along with Coach Kendall Ivester to know that TAD had finally been able to take down the Lady Patriots in their third attempt of the season and boy did the win feel good.
The Lady Cyclones showed no fear coming out in the first set and winning decisively 25-19 after battling back from behind to take the win and set the Lady Patriots back on their heels in disbelief.
In the second set, Liberty Bell knew with their back against the wall it was go-time while the Jr. Lady Cyclones didn’t want to let the match go to a decisive third set and wanted to put the game on ice.
The play showed the desires of both teams as each serve was hotly contested and the set was a point for point contest as neither team could gain separation. With two points being about the maximum lead, the teams found that neither could get the two-point win to 25 as the Jr. Cyclones finally got the break they needed to seal the victory with a 28-26 set win.
For Ivester who has been working hard in her first season to prepare the Jr. Lady Cyclones for future competition in the conference tournament as well as the high school level, the win was extremely gratifying and caused the coach to be somewhat speechless in reflecting back on the match.
“I am so proud of my girls,” said Ivester after the match. “They finally put all the pieces together that we have been working on and it paid off.
“I am excited about the upcoming week as we play Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and a tournament on Saturday. So I am hoping they will take this and build off of it and we will have a great week.
“I think that their mental toughness showed in that second set,” Ivester continued. “I didn’t know how mentally tough they were until that set right there. Sometimes we haven’t been able to shake off the mistakes but in a game like that, you have to shake off the mistakes.
“I am so proud of them for stepping up and I have been telling them recently to play the game the right way and don’t worry about anything else. I am thinking that our season is starting to turn around and we will be playing T.A. Dugger ball the rest of the way.”
The T.A. Dugger JV Jr. Lady Cyclones made it a clean sweep as they won their match by a 2-1 score. Getting off on the right foot, the Jr. Lady Cyclone JV team took game one before Liberty Bell rallied in game two to force the decisive third set with the first to 15 claiming the match.
TAD took the third set by winning in a 15-9 score.
