Menu
Comets sweep two over family weekend
Nevada Daily Mail
The Cottey College Comets celebrated Family Weekend in style by sweeping matches on Friday night and Saturday afternoon from two four-year colleges. On Friday, the Comets easily took three from Ozark Christian College 30-18, 30-21, and 30-19. Saturday, the Comets made short work of Stephens College 30-20, 30-18, and 30-28.
The Comets were looking for a little revenge against the Lady Ambassadors from Ozark Christian. Last year, the team from Joplin came into Hinkhouse Center and took a victory in five games. The home team was determined not to let that happen again. Having a full house for Family Weekend certainly helped as the Comets were not about to let a visiting team spoil their showing in front of family and friends. Cottey was never seriously challenged in any of the three games as they started the weekend off with a great win.
The Stephens match showed the Comets both dominating and coming from behind. In the first game, Cottey was in control from the opening serve and rolled to a relatively easy 10-point victory as they were never seriously challenged.
In the second game, the Comets hurt themselves a bit with serve errors, and the Stephens Stars played a bit better in the early going. In fact, game two was tied at 11 before the Comets kicked it into high gear and pulled away easily over the second half of the game.
Game three, however, was a testament to the Comets will to win. Early on Cottey made several errors. On top of that, the Stars finally began to play with some intensity and purpose. The game was tied in the early going, but Stephens used Comets' mistakes to pull away in the mid-part of the game. Cottey trailed 16-22 when the rally began.
With a run of four consecutive points, the Comets pulled within two at 20-22 to make a game of it. Stephens made a four-point run of their own to go up 20-26, and seemed to have the game in control. It was not to be, though as the Comets tallied seven of the next eight points to trail by one at 27-28. Cottey scored the final three points of the game to pull out the comeback and the sweep. It was an incredible finish for a match that ended in three games.
"I am very proud of the way that my players came back and won game three," said head coach Marla Kannady Foreman. "It showed me that they have integrity, and that they are capable of making a comeback from being several points down."
Statistical leaders for the Comets were as follows. Against OCC, Carmen Kintz had six aces and 21 digs, Tara Cooper had 22 assists, Lauren Jenkins had 11 kills, and Lindsey Monceret had three blocks. Against Stephens, Kintz had six aces and 25 digs, Cooper had 22 assists, Jenkins had 10 kills, and Monceret had four blocks.
With the twin wins, the Comets raised their record on the season to 10-5. Next up is a home match against perennial powerhouse Longview Community College. That match will tip off at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 9, inside the friendly confines of Hinkhouse Center gymnasium.