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Lady Tigers upset in straight sets by College Heights
By Joe Warren
Nevada Daily Mail
The Nevada Lady Tigers struggled in their 2004 season opener Tuesday, losing to College Heights Christian School, 25-21 and 25-19 at Nevada High School.
The Tigers made 25 unforced errors in the match, basically eliminating any chance to defeat the private school from Joplin.
The sloppy play frustrated head coach Sharla Wilkerson, who said the team did not resemble the same group that dominated during summer play not too long ago.
"We were playing way too timid, making way too many mistakes," Wilkerson said. "It's not the way to begin the season."
The Tigers came out strong, scoring five of the first six points in the rally-scoring match, to take an early lead.
But then the errors started to mount.
College Heights scored six of the next seven points to take a 7-6 lead, despite only registering one kill and one block.
The Tigers were having trouble in just about every area. Bumping, setting, spiking and defensive footwork all appeared rough as the College Heights Cougars surged ahead.
Still, the Tigers and Cougars stayed close together and the score was tied at 10 after a College Heights player double-touched the ball.
The Cougars then went on another run, scoring seven out of eight points to take the lead 17-11. Even then, only two of the points were scored as a result of College Heights play. Other than one kill and a block, the rest of the points during the run were because of Nevada errors.
Even so, the Tigers battled back to close the gap. Two kills by Hillary Adams and a kill and a block by Wendi Jones helped get the Tigers to within one at 18-17.
But a Nevada lift was one of two unforced errors that helped College Heights score the next three points to make it 21-17.
Veronica Mosier had a kill to make it 21-18, but the Cougars scored the next two and had Nevada against the wall at 23-18.
After a long serve by College Heights, Jones and Mosier both collected kills to make it 23-21, but the Cougars scored the next two points to pull out the first game.
The second game was much like the first, with unforced errors leading to Nevada's downfall.
Three unforced errors helped College Heights take a 7-4 lead, but then the Tigers received some help when the Cougars had three of their own to tie the game.
Nevada and College Heights battled from there, playing some very long points and the best volleyball of the night, as the Tigers took an 11-10 lead after kills from Jones and Lacy Leonard.
A long serve and a net violation killed the momentum though and the Cougars went on a 10-2 run to put the game out of reach.
The Cougars cruised from there to take the final game, 25-19.
Wilkerson said lack of focus and determination were Nevada's biggest problems.
"Our focus needs to be there and our determination needs to be there," Wilkerson said. "It wasn't tonight. We had our moments of hustle, but it was not the whole game."
Wilkerson said her players need to work on keeping momentum.
"Volleyball is a huge game of momentum," she said. "We've got to keep the momentum."
Wilkerson also said the players need to realize that when they get down by five or six points the odds are against them.
"In rally scoring you can't get down that far and expect to come back," she said. "It's too late sometimes."
Wilkerson said she the players knew that they played poorly afterwards.
"I told them , 'I'm not going to go scream and yell at you because you will beat yourself up more than I would,'" she said.
Leonard led the Tigers with five kills, while Mosier and Adams each had four.
Sophomore Ashleigh Bryson led the team with seven points serving, including two aces.
Sophomore Brittany Crockett, projected to start this season with the varsity, did not play. Crockett has been out with an illness and had not been able to practice much lately, although she was in uniform and did participate in warm-ups. Crockett's absence led to Bryson getting the start.
Nevada's junior varsity fared better than the varsity, beating College Heights, 25-21 and 25-14.
Amanda Wilson had six kills and eight points for the JV, while Kaitlin Holland had four kills, seven assists and nine points.
The Tiger varsity does not have time to worry about starting the season 0-1. Harrisonville will be in town on Thursday to take on the Tigers.
"We've got to move on," Wilkerson said. "We've got tough competition coming in here Thursday night."
That match starts at 5 p.m. at Nevada High School.