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Nevada volleyball gets much-needed sweep of Smith-Cotton
Following a 3-2 road loss to Clinton on Wednesday, one in which the Nevada High School volleyball team surrendered a two-set lead, a straight-sets domination of Smith-Cotton Thursday evening inside Wynn Gymnasium was just what the doctor ordered.
In fact, after all the close matches they have been on the losing side of this season, the Lady Tigers were aching for a victory like that (25-11, 25-20, 25-12) for much longer than just a day.
“We definitely needed that, and it feels so, so good,” said NHS head coach Kori Dodson, whose team is now 4-9-1. “We’ve had so many games where we’ve been right there and just let it slip away from us. To finally get that solidification and feel like we’re on the up-and-up, it feels good.”
Nevada put Wednesday’s tough loss (25-20, 26-24, 17-25, 17-25, 8-15) in the rearview immediately last night, with junior Emma Leisure opening the first set against Smith-Cotton by racking up five straight points from behind the service line — highlighted by her one ace and kills by Trinity Gayman and Abbey Heathman. Leisure added two more aces her next time serving, while Gayman scored one later in the set to help NHS pull away.
The second set was more competitive, though the Lady Tigers were up 22-12 at one point, only to watch Smith-Cotton (1-9) pull within four when Nevada needed just a point to win it. That’s when Dodson decided to call a timeout.
“Going into that, it was, ‘Hey, we’ve got to take care of business,’” Dodson said. “In volleyball, regardless of what the score was the last game, it starts fresh in the next. And we learned that the hard way against Clinton last night.”
Nevada escaped the set unscathed, then got off to a 13-1 head start to begin the third — led by Gayman’s two kills and three aces. Sophomore Delaney Hope added two kill blocks during that run, as well, and would go on to spike three more kills to help NHS put it away.
“That’s always the emphasis, is to come out from the start and set the tone for the game, let them know we’re here to play, they’re in our house, and we did that with our serving and attacking,” said Dodson, whose team will look to carry the momentum from this win into the Dr. Jeffrey Knutzen Carl Junction Classic this weekend. “Hopefully, tonight will build that confidence, as it should. Like I told the girls, feel good about this. This is good volleyball. This is what we want.”