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October 31, 2009

Postseason begins for Lady Dogs today

New Waverly to battle Anderson-Shiro in playoff for second place in district

By Gene Schallenberg

The playoffs may not begin until next week, but as far as the New Waverly volleyball squad is concerned, the postseason starts now.

The Lady Dogs and Anderson-Shiro play today in a tiebreaker for second place in District 21-2A at 3 p.m. at Madisonville High School.

“We haven’t talked that much about Anderson as far as plan and strategy,” New Waverly head coach Stacy Hill said on Thursday. “It was more about staying mentally tough. That’s something we’ve struggled with all year long. It’s going to be tough to stay mentally tough the whole match, especially in this atmosphere we’re going to be in. If we maintain the focus that we had this morning (in practice), we’re going to be incredibly, incredibly hard to beat.”

New Waverly and Anderson-Shiro played twice this season with the home team coming away with the victory. In their most recent meeting on Oct. 20, the Lady Dogs defeated the Lady Owls in four games.

“When you’re playing somebody in your district that you’ve already played twice, it really brings out your best and it can help out these girls mentally,” Hill said. “They’re going to have to fight because Anderson’s just as fired up over there as we are and we’re not going to be able to take anything lightly or for granted.

“Anderson’s a really good team. They deserve a lot of respect because they’re very good and they’re a very smart team. They’ve got a couple of middle hitters that are pretty good. They’ve got a couple of girls that tip a lot and tip well. They’re just a smart group of girls,” the coach added. “It’ll be two evenly matched teams going head-to-head. There’s pressure on us because we want to finish in second place and we want to win in that moment.”

Ever since losing in straight sets to third-ranked Centerville on Oct. 9, New Waverly has been rolling. The Lady Bulldogs (10-4 in district play, 19-12 overall) have won four of their last five matches with the only setback coming against Trinity last week in a five-set affair.

“We’re coming together,” sophomore libero Kali Pavelock said. “We weren’t talking in that match against Trinity. We’re hoping to be the better team against Anderson.

“We’re hoping to improve everywhere. If we can do a good job with our passes, we should be all right. We have to come out ready to play. We can beat them if we play like we know how.”

The Lady Dogs do not know who their first-round playoff opponent will be. It will be either Kirbyville or Hemphill, teams that are breaking a tie tonight to decide second and third place in District 22-2A.

“I’m excited because I’ve never been in the playoffs before. It’s my first time,” Pavelock said.

Not only is New Waverly looking to win to have some momentum going into next week’s playoffs, but the Lady Dogs also are playing to be the second-best team out of 21-2A.

“It’s a lot about pride,” Hill added. “We fought really hard to stay where we were all season. A lot of people counted us out before the season ever started. The girls took that and fed off that.

“They know this is the first time in a long time that the volleyball girls can go out and get some respect. I think Saturday, if we win, we’ll prove we’re one of the top two teams in our district.”

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