The Lady Cougars matched up against the Howard Hawks last Thursday. The first set started off with nervous Cougars on the court. Howard took a steady star running with the lead. Cougars struggled with serve receive and communication. Down 5-13 when Alaina Larson came up to serve. She placed 5 tough serves, with the team covering the court to keep the serve and causing Howard to call time out. Alaina serves in but Cougars lose possession, 10-14. Howard’s momentum continues and remains in the lead. Cougars 13-19, with Celeste Jeoffroy to serve. She has 4 well placed serves and the team covering the court, bringing up the score to Cougars at 16. Lost of possession and Howard #14 Zoe returns to service and finishes the game 16-25.
Game two started off slow as Cougars could not keep possession. Anna Morris gets up to serve putting in three serves to get the Cougars back in the game. Celeste has a nice play on the net with some good volleys between Cougars and hawks. Now things are picking up a bit but Hawks remain in the lead, 8-14. Alyssa Briggs moves to the service position dropping 3 deep and hard to return serves to Howard territory, followed by 6 serves from Bella Aparicio. Cougars are creeping up on the Hawks giving them a good challenge as they call another time out at 16-18. Cougars are communicating well. Alaina has a nice save keeping the ball in play and point Cougars, 18-18. Loss of possession moves – now serve and score back and forth. Celeste on the net with a hard slam down middle for the point. The score bounces back and forth like the serve. Now 21-22. Girls are playing with some grit and covering the court well. Hawks lose the serve, now tied 22-22. Celeste puts a deep serve that they can’t return, Cougars in 24-23. The score goes back and forth but the Hawks eventually get to the top, winning 25-27.
The third set is slow going as Lady Cougars fall behind quickly 3-8. Cougars are not moving to the ball so passing suffers. Errors on court hurt the Cougars. Both Anna and Alaina fire aways some nice serves that catch the Hawks off guard, bringing Cougars to 8-12. Cougars makes their serves but can’t keep it in their favor. Bella is up to serve 14-17 and drops her nifty serves into the Howard court. Backed up with team coverage, they pull up to tie the game 17-17. There were a couple of strong volleys that kept the game going, making the Hawks works for it. However the Cougars can’t keep the momentum and Howard finishes the game and match, 19-25.
The Lady Cougars will return to home court twice this week, on Wednesday at 4:30pm against Cumberland Academy and on Friday at 4pm against Tapestry. Come out to cheer them on! Go Cougars !
