Varsity Volleyball Week of September 26

BRANDON HALL MATCH

Cougars took the court excited and ready to play Brandon Hall after not having met up with them in a couple of years. Celeste Jeoffroy began the set serving well, putting Cougars in the lead 4-0. Alyssa Briggs was playing the net well, a strong presence to the Panther front row as she covered the net with confidence. Communication fell off a bit for the Cougs and Panthers inch ahead on the scoreboard, 5-8. The Panthers were very scrappy and covered the court well, putting TCS Cougars to the test. Falling behind as the Panthers got a string of serves, upping the score, 11-24. Alaina Larson moved to serve and she placed her signature tight overhand serve, keeping the Cougars in the game. Celeste dropped a nice one into the open Panther court for the Cougars. Alaina had 9 tough serves which brought the Lady Cougars within striking distance of the Panthers after being down most of the set. However, Brandon Hall got this set, 21-25.

Set 2

The team is fired up and ready to play. BH serves first and gets on the board, 0-2 by the time Celeste starts serving for TCS. She placed her serve to the weakest link tying up the score 3-3. The teams go back and forth with tough serves and good volleys, score is now 5-5. Cougar communication increases with clean passes to the setter, making nice plays as a team. Cougars serve well too. Alyssa up to serve and pushed the Cougars ahead, 11-8. Followed by Bella Aparicio with 4 in a row, Cougars still up 16-12. During their serving possession, Celeste has a great spike while playing the net to win the point. With a great pass from Alaina, Celeste sets up Alyssa to hit from behind the 10-foot line for the point, 17-14. Cougars and Panthers are playing every volley with intensity. Panthers refuse to lay down so the game continues. Cougars are covering the court well, passing nicely for spikes from Bella, Alaina and Alyssa. Bella has a great hit down the middle for point, 23-20. Cougar spirit is high as they finished the set for the win, 25-20.

Set 3

With a great win under their belt, the Cougars are red hot as they take the court for game 3 starting off with a strong overhand serve from Alaina. Followed by service from Celeste, putting Cougars up 3-2. Cougars are still moving and communicating well, moving up the score 6-3. Celeste put up a nice set for Alaina with a kill. The team is placing great serves to the right spot to put Panthers into a frenzy chasing down balls. Finley Love put in great serves, score is now tied 15-15. The Panthers now get a run on serves, easing them into the lead with 5 points, putting our Cougars down, 16-21. The old Cougar team would often lose their focus when troubled by serve receive, but today they did not. They worked hard to get the pass, set and spike to win back the serve. Bella to serve with long, deep shots to the back Panther court, backed up by the team, breath catching rallies that kept the Cougars at the service line. making up the deficit to tie it up again, 21-21. Loss of rally puts BH to serve, but the Cougars get it back with Alaina to serve, and now 23-23. Loss of rally, 23-24. Panthers serve and take the set, 23-25.

Set 4

Fourth set, here we go. Started off a little tough with Brandon Hall server running up the score, 0-6. Cougars are rallying and working to get back the serve each time. They are down 4-16. Bella comes up to serve and puts in 4 shots, backed up by the scrappy Cougars who are working to get back in this set. Alaina has three serves; we are now at 14-20. Passing is good, allowing the setter to set up hitters both in the front row and the back row. Finley to the serving line with 4 great ones that throw off the Panthers, 18-21. The team is communicating and making smart plays each time the ball travels into Cougar court. Anna Morris serves 4 well places serves, Cougars are now tied 23-23. Loss of rally puts it back to the Panthers. Cougars are volleying and covering like they never have so far this season. It was amazing to watch them playing such great team volleyball. Unfortunately, the Panthers finish it off, taking the match with the fourth set, 23-25.  

 This is one of the best matches the team has played all season!! True teamwork and use of their talents on the court. The Lady Cougars gave the Panthers a real challenge as they battled back in every set of this match!

HOWARD MATCH

The Lady Cougars travelled downtown to meet up with the Howard Hawks for another match. The Cougars were slow starting out with the Hawks taking an early lead. Lexy Harrison got things rolling for the Cougars with three serves. Loss of rally, 5-7. Cougars get the ball back and Anna Morris to serve. She has three serves also, putting Cougars up 9-7 and then loss of rally. Cougars are not communicating well and had a hard time keeping the serve when they do get it. Howard #16 fired away a string of 6 serves that continued to challenge our Cougars, score is now 14-20. Cougars can’t pull it together, Hawks get this one, 16-25.

Set 2 began with Cougar serve and a good volley, but Hawks get point #1. Balls goes back and forth. Finley Love up to serve three including an ace, score tied up 7-7. Bella Aparicio comes to service line with 2 serves, Cougars move into lead, 10-9. Alyssa Briggs picked up a nice ball in the back court to Celeste Jeoffroy, point for the Cougars. Score bounces back and forth with Cougars keeping tight to the Hawks. Alyssa with a nice hit to Hawks open court earning Cougar point, 15-19. Anna Morris puts in some tough serves trying to get back to the lead, loss of rally 17-20. Cougars lose their drive and Hawks win, 17-25.

The third set was a rocky start as Cougars were having a tough time making good passes. They got in hole early on with 0-7 lead for Hawks. When the serve came to purple, the team couldn’t win the rally to keep it going. The fight seemed to have left the Cougar team. Hawks finish it off, taking the set and match, 10-25.