Lady Cougars Take The Mustangs in 3 Sets

The Lady Cougars traveled to Mustang territory to play their final AAC match of the regular season. The match began by honoring the team seniors – Adair Garrett, Anika Helm, Olivia Robertson and Anna Scalf.

The Cougars took the court with camaraderie and excitement. Alyssa Briggs served an ace to get things started. Communication and teamwork led the way along with an early Cougar lead, 4-1. Volleys were good and the Cougars were all over the court, fighting for each point, the score kept moving up, 11-7. The team had good court awareness, they placed smart balls to the Mustangs. Anna Scalf picked up some balls, taking them tight over the net and into the deep back court, earning the point and serve. That brought Celeste Jeoffroy up to serve. She put away two tough aces, continuing to inch up the score, 16-11. The Cougars back up their serves with great volleys, keeping the game lively. Loss of service but serve receive isn’t troubling Lady Cougars today. They got the serve back, score is 17-14 and Olivia Robertson stepped to the service line, putting away two in row, followed by Anna Scalf, with two more. The serve goes back and forth between Cougars and Mustangs, but the Cougars have now taken the lead, 24-19 with Alyssa serving again, she finishes the set with a strong serve they can’t return, TCS wins, 25-19.

Set two began a little slow with MSA pushing in with the early lead, Cougars struggling to return the ball. They win the play and Adair Garrett comes in to serve and serve she does! She is on fire with a serve that the Mustangs struggle to return. Mustangs call a time out in hopes of breaking her serve, but she doesn’t fall to the pressure, she continues her serving streak with 4 more for a total of 8. Score is 9-5. Loss of volley, and Mustangs get a couple serves in, and the volleys have everyone on the edge of their seat. Cougar communication is strong and they are in a good groove. They get the serve back and Celeste puts away three aces, edging things up 13—7. Loss of service and they again rally it out with the Mustangs. The Cougars struggled with a bit of court awareness hitting balls out of bounds instead of into the Mustang court. Alaina Watson subs in and offers some help with passing in the back court. Anna Scalf returns to serve, putting in three serves including an ace. Anna Morris is on the net and has soft hit to win the point. The team covers well, listening to coach direction to pass into the deep MSA court. More great volleys and the team is in their groove, they earn back the serve. The score is 21-15 with Alyssa serving. Four strong serves into deep Mustang court, they struggled with the serve receive. Cougars win set two, 25-15.

This set began with some fresh faces from the bench, led off with Madison Clark to serve. She puts the Cougars on the board first with an ace that is hot and low to the net. The serve moves to Mustang hands and Cougars struggle with serve receive. Mustangs grab an early lead, 9-1 while the Lady Cougars make some substitutions trying to get back the serve. They start working their way back into the set with a couple strong serves from both Bella Aparicio and Finley Love, and another ace for Olivia. Score is now 7-15. Anna Scalf serves and puts away two aces, followed by six more serves. The Lady Cougars backed her up with some outstanding court coverage. The team is passing well. A great pass by Anna Morris to Celeste, setting up Alyssa for a hit from behind the 10-foot line. Alyssa also showed off the reasoning for her “Scrappy” nickname. In one volley, she picked up three balls that were intended to get dumped into the open Cougar court, keeping the play alive and earning the point. Best volley of the match! Score is 18-17. Cougars run into some passing problems as they are sending them over the net right to the Mustang #13, who took full advantage of this gift, hitting right back into open Cougar court. TCS earns back the serve, now 19-21. Bella puts the heat back on Mustangs as she fires away some tough serves. Team coverage continues, keeping Bella serving for five. Celeste sets up Alyssa for one more kill. Loss of the volley as the Mustangs try to rally back, 24-24. Cougars win the play and Celeste goes to serve, one more pretty serve to win the set and match, 26-24!

Coaches are so proud of the team for their efforts and teamwork with this match. A great way to end regular league play with one of their best matches so far this season. They will travel to Heritage Prep today for their last regular season match. Playoffs begin on Tuesday, October 5 at home in the Cougar Center versus the Mustangs. Match begins at 4pm. Go Cougars!