|
Lady Eagles fall to Normangee
By Van Hilburn
Published November 15, 2009
TYLER — The Detroit Lady Eagles’ historic playoff run ended Friday night at the hands of the Normangee Lady Panthers as the Lady Eagles suffered a four-game loss in the Class A, Region III Volleyball Tournament Friday afternoon at the University of Texas at Tyler’s Herrington Patriot Center.
Sixth-ranked Detroit (33-4), making its first-ever regional tournament appearance, lost to 12th-ranked Normangee, 21-25, 21-25, 26-24, 21-25.
Normangee (31-10), regional finalist a year ago, beat Iola (31-8) in the regional finals Saturday afternoon in five games, 13-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-16, 15-13, to earn a trip to the state tournament in Austin.
For the Lady Eagles, 2009 will go down as their best season in school history, but they are probably left wondering what could have been had they not gotten off to slow starts in both Game 1 and Game 2 against Normangee.
“I’ll be honest, the girls were nervous. We were nervous on almost every point,” said Detroit coach Jeff Allensworth. “We didn’t push the ball like we had all season. Not ever being in a big game like this, I think it got to us a little bit.”
In Game 1, Detroit scored the first point on a monster kill by senior Adrienne Bronner, but the Lady Panthers scored the next three points on Detroit sideouts and a net violation to take a 3-1 lead. Detroit pulled to within a point at 5-4 on a kill by Kyetta Lewis, but Normangee scored the next four points with three of those points being earned after very long back-and-forth volleys. Normangee’s Rebekah Isbell, Charla Lopez and Bayleigh Biddle all had kill shots during that run.
Detriot eventually pulled to within a point of the Lady Panthers at 15-14 on a kill by Stephanie Cashion, but a missed serve by the Lady Eagles, then an ace serve from Normangee’s Hilaree Hodges started another Lady Panther run. Later on, four straight service points by Normangee’s Lace Seely, including an ace helped give the Lady Panthers a 23-16 lead.
Game 1 would end on another Detroit missed serve, the fifth in the game. Overall, Detroit would have 10 missed serves to Normangee’s seven.
In Game 2, Detroit got off to another slow start, falling behind 8-1, highlighted by seven consecutive service points by Samanatha Corgey.
Detroit pulled to within two points at 17-15 later in the match, aided by kills from Cashion and Bronner, and the serving of Brianna Williams.
Detroit would pull even with Normangee at 19-all when Taylor Eddins slipped a kill shot past the Lady Panthers’ defense, but back-to-back Detroit sideouts allowed Normangee to go ahead 21-19.
A Normangee sideout and a kill by Williams tied the match at 21-all, but that was the closest Detroit would get to winning Game 2, as Normangee scored the next four points on kills by Lopez and Brittany Lee, and sideouts by Detroit.
Down by two games, Detroit refused to be swept, and it stepped up in Game 3 to post a 26-24 hard-fought victory. Williams got things going with a monster kill shot off a long volley, Griffin then served three straight points, including an ace, to give the Lady Eagles a 4-0 advantage.
There would be five ties in Game 3 before kill by Williams gave the Lady Eagles a 25-24 lead, and a kill by Bronner ended the game at 26-24.
In Game 4, the Eagles once again came out fighting, taking a 3-0 lead on the serving of Griffin, aided by yet another Williams kill shot.
There would be five ties and two more lead changes before Normangee took the lead for good when Biddle knocked down a kill shot to give her team a 17-16 advantage.
Williams led Detroit in kills with 13 and the junior outside hitter also had three blocks. Lewis had nine kills and 15 assists, while Senior libero Cady Hammett had a match-high 38 digs. Brooke Griffin had 28 digs, while Cashion finished with eight kills and Eddins had seven. Bronner had five kills and nine blocks.
“I was proud of the girls. I mean every game we had a chance because we were in it. (Normangee’s) experience showed, but this was good for our program. It kind of sets the standard for others to follow. We were 36-4 and that was great. I’m so proud of the girls,” Allensworth added.
Detroit won 18 consecutive games at one point this season and won the District 17-A championship.
NOTE: Detroit was the only team at the Region 3 tournament making its first appearance...Detroit loses seven players from this year’s team — Brooke Griffin, Kyetta Lewis, Cady Hammett, Shelbi Hart, Tamra Holmes, Stephanie Cashion, and Adrienne Bronner. Only Brianna Williams and Taylor Eddins return.
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print |
Letter
|
|
 |
|
|
