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October 27, 2009

Pulling together

Following loss to Trinity, Lady Dogs win final three sets to down Buffalo in four

By Tom Waddill

NEW WAVERLY — The Lady Bulldogs got back on track Tuesday. Four days after losing to Trinity, New Waverly’s varsity volleyball team took care of business and beat Buffalo in four games.

Junior Kayla Munoz led the playoff-bound Lady Bulldogs to a 23-25, 25-14, 25-19 and 25-22 victory over the Lady Bison on senior night at Bulldog Gym.

Munoz recorded 12 kills and six aces for the Lady Bulldogs, who likely will play Anderson-Shiro later this week in a tiebreaker match to determine playoff seeding.

Senior Mallory Eastland fired down 11 kills, senior Chelsea Little added seven spikes, sophomore Brianna LeFlore had five and sophomore Alex Abbott had two kills.

Abbott also served eight aces. Munoz had six aces, while sophomore Kali Pavelock had two.

New Waverly improved to 10-4 in District 21-2A play and 19-12 overall Tuesday. Anderson-Shiro, which played district-leading Centerville on Tuesday, was 10-3 in district action heading into the regular-season finale.

If Centerville knocked off Anderson, New Waverly will play the Lady Owls on Friday or Saturday to determine the second- and third-place playoff spots. Plans for the tiebreaker match will be finalized today.

“It’s looking like 4 p.m. Friday at Huntsville High School,” New Waverly coach Stacy Hill said after the Lady Bulldogs wrapped up a back-and-forth match with Buffalo. “That’s not in stone yet. We’ll decide tomorrow.”

To make that tiebreaking match possible, New Waverly had to take care of Buffalo. The Lady Bison (22-17 overall) came out ready to play, edging the Lady Bulldogs in the opening set.

“We have a tendency to lose our brains when anything gets switched up,” Hill said. “It’s senior night, so we started the game with all six of our seniors. They have earned that.

“We had a different rotation in there and that kind of affected how we played. We let Buffalo control that first game.”

After dropping a close 25-23 set, the Lady Dogs woke up. They roared out to an 8-1 lead in the second game.

Munoz contributed some strong serving, while Eastland and Little did the hitting. Sophomore Morgan Hunter even served an ace during the spurt that opened the second set.

“That second game, that’s when everything started clicking,” Little said. “Pass, set, spike — that’s what we want to do every time. We started doing that in the second game.”

The Lady Dogs continued their solid play in games three and four. While Abbott was serving shots the Lady Bison had trouble handling, Eastland used deception to get a couple of kills past Buffalo’s front line.

Eastland went up and looked like she was going to hit the ball one way, then she would swing her arm and bang the ball in the other direction.

New Waverly jumped out to a 15-8 lead in the third game and never really had to sweat. Munoz delivered the game-winner through a pair of Lady Bison blockers.

The final set was much tighter. The Lady Dogs briefly pulled away with a 5-0 run that made it 19-14, but Buffalo came back and tied the set at 20.

A kill by Munoz put the Lady Bulldogs on top 22-21, then after an unforced error, Eastland served an ace. Munoz put an end to the Lady Bison’s upset bid when she pounded the ball to the floor.

Depending on what happens in the tiebreaker match, the Lady Bulldogs will play either Hemphill or Kirbyville in the opening round of the Class 2A playoffs early next week.

Hill said she and assistant coach Eldridge McAdams have already talked to the Lady Bulldogs about gearing up for the postseason. It’s different playing win-or-go-home contests, New Waverly’s head coach says.

“There’s a lot more pressure and it’s a lot more intense,” Hill said. “Some of the girls have been asking about a warm-up game. Anderson’s our warm-up game. I don’t think there’s any better opponent for us for a warm-up game because we’re going to push them and they’re going to push us. We’re going to be ready for the playoffs, no doubt about it.”

Winners of four of their last five matches, the Lady Bulldogs say they’re ready for the playoffs right now.

“We’re excited about the playoffs,” Little said. “Playing Anderson again will be a big warm-up match for us. We won one and they won one before, so it should be another great match.”

Little said everything seems to have fallen in place for the Lady Bulldogs of 2009. They started the season back in August with hopes of advancing to the playoffs. Hard work and dedication have made those dreams become reality.

“We absolutely have no drama on this team,” Little said. “We don’t come to practice and goof around. We work hard every day because we want this. We want to be in the playoffs.”

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